Endlessly
by Lady Ten
Summary: "Rose..." When the Doctor's voice begins calling to Rose again she immediately runs to Bad Wolf Bay to meet him, to escape to her reality, to her Doctor after fighting every single day to escape the dimension she is now trapped in. However, things are not what they seem. Takes place around The Sound of Drums and The Last of the Time Lords. The Master has been busy... Rose/Ten
1. Chapter 1

**Hello fellow Whovians! After obsessively reading Doctor Who fics for the past four years, I have finally decided to write my own. This takes place after Rose and the Doctor had the most heartbreaking, terrible goodbye I have ever seen (yes I still cry every time I watch it) right around the time the Master re-emerges. I hope that I have at least vaguely explained what she has been doing with herself all this time and that this story has a future! I just had to write my version of events (even though if I had my way Doomsday would have never happened and all the ridiculosity would have CEASED immediately). However, that is not how the world works so it is up to us faithful 10/Rose shippers to carry on the torch(wood) *no! focus! Har har. So here it is, please be kind (at least at first) and I hope you enjoy! Allon-sy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own it! Anything you recognize in any chapter doesn't belong to me as much as I wish it did.**

"_Rose…"_

Rose Tyler awoke with a start, blonde hair plastered to the back of her neck with cold sweat, heart racing. Taking a deep, shaking breath that sounded like a sob she sat up and switched on her bedside light. She _knew_ that voice. This time it was different, different from the myriad of dreams and nightmares she had, had of him over the past two years. It was just like when he had called her to Dålig Ulv Stranden, Bad Wolf Bay. He was calling her again, through time and space and dimensions.

Flinging back the covers, Rose sprinted from the bed and dove into her closet. She pulled on a pair of black jeans she had left lying on the ground before her brief sleep, and dragged a turquoise top (she never wore pink anymore) off of a hanger and yanked it over her bra.

One article however, was not chosen at random. Every day she wore a black leather coat, a few sizes too large for her that she had worn nearly every day since- no she wouldn't think of that day. This coat was a sort of homage to the man who had changed everything, who had made her better, happier, and more miserable than any other person, thing, or event in her life.

"_Rose…"_

A surge of adrenaline coursed through her veins at that feather light brush on her mind. This was her chance. Rose had never thought that she would get another even though every single day of her life was filled with the desperate quest to get back to _her _reality, _her_ Doctor, aided by Torchwood which Pete had immediately established her at after her two days of mourning.

Two days was all that she had allowed herself. Her knowledge and experience had allowed her to advance quickly and she was soon granted her own team and nearly unlimited resources. Torchwood wanted the Doctor too, but not even a fraction of how badly she did.

Rose had traveled the world searching for any technology, alien or otherwise that would allow her to jump though dimensions and any travel or down time was consumed by research on everything to do with the subject. She had expanded her mind vastly, but had only made one step closer to her goal.

A private collector had been found in possession of a device, a very special device. Torchwood had obtained it through various means at the command of Rose. After much testing it was determined that the device could possibly, with certain enhancements, allow one person to jump dimensions. The origins of the device were unknown, the collector had no information about it other than what it was rumored to be for and that it was not of this world.

Nicknamed the Dimension Cannon, the device was tested over the course of six months and little progress was made but Rose believed, no she _knew_ that it would work. There was no other alternative. The only problem was that she didn't know where to set it to. It was possible that it was controllable with the mind but she believed that if she had direct coordinates, that it would absolutely work.

Although she had her mission, everything about this world felt bad to her. Every moment seemed as if it was attempting to push her out or something was dragging her away. The number of near-death experiences she had encountered here dwarfed the number she had, had during her time with the Doctor. Cars, buses, random attacks, it was as if this world was actively attempting to get rid of her.

Over the course of time, after a number of these events, Rose began to sense a pattern. Right before it happened, her mind would flash a gold void for a moment and when she snapped back in to reality she knew just what she had to do to avoid certain death. Dart out of the way; counter an attack with one of the myriad of moves that she had learned at Torchwood. It was like that each time and once she became aware of it, the gold void grew stronger.

She remembered little from when she had looked into the heart of the TARDIS but the feeling was reminiscent of that. All knowing for just a millisecond. Rose knew it was ridiculous to link the two, her first Doctor had somehow taken the Time Vortex out of her at the expense of his incarnation, but whatever it was, it had saved her life more times than she could count. Yes, this world was trying to get rid of her. Maybe now she could grant its wish.

The last time she had heard his voice it had filled her with a feeling that she could not describe, showing her the briefest image of a stormy beach, consuming her with a yearning to get out of bed immediately and head in the direction that she knew she must go. This time was much the same but this time she was not going to take her family or Mickey.

She now resided _at _Torchwood, in accommodations that they reserved for the most senior officers. It was only practical because she spent all of her time here or traveling, and besides, her mum had the new baby, well, toddler now, Tony to look after. Rose felt badly that she hadn't spent as much time with her little brother as she should have but there was no way that she could give him what he needed, so she basically stayed away, visiting rarely.

As for Mickey, they had drifted apart after the initial excitement of being reunited. He was always off on missions, as was she, and the connection that they used to have had faded into a fond, long distance friendship.

On her way out of the building Rose set up transportation to Norway and soon she was on a Torchwood owned jet. Her leg bounced up and down with anxiety on the black leather seats, mind racing.

"_Rose…"_

'_Oh God Doctor, please let this be real. I can't just be going mad.' _ She thought fiercely.

This absolutely _had_ to be real. She touched her pocket where she kept the Dimension Cannon when it wasn't undergoing testing. She had nicked it before she left; no one was supposed to use it until more research was done. No one had used it yet but Rose was tired of waiting and she figured anything was better than being trapped in a reality that actively didn't want her there.

If this was her chance she had to let her mum know she was going but that farewell was going to be horribly painful. Grabbing her laptop she set it up to take video though the webcam and, taking a deep breath, she pressed record.

"Hi mum." She began lamely. "Um…I'm sure this moment was always a possibility to you, you know I don't belong here but I am so happy that you do, that you have found happiness here with Pete and Tony and I am sorry that I couldn't share it with you. I think he _found_ me mum!" Tears began welling up in her eyes and she brushed them away absentmindedly. "I don't know how to describe it but I really think that this is my chance and I can't waste a moment hesitating, even to say goodbye in person. I am going to use the device; you can ask Pete about it, he knows as much as I do. You'll only receive this message if I don't come back in two days... I've set it up that way. I hope you will be happy for me, you and Pete, and Tony… someday when he can understand. Tell him about me will ya? The Doctor and me. I love you so much and I hope you will be so happy and have everything you've ever wanted. Goodbye."

Rose switched the video off before more tears could fall and put it in a special file that she had set up long ago, back when she had more hope. Jackie would be happy for her, she knew it, but it still broke her heart, if that was even possible anymore, to say goodbye like that. At least she had gotten the chance this time.

"_Rose…"_

The voice was getting louder, stronger. Rose slammed the door of the Torchwood car and pelted down to the beach. She knew the exact spot that she had last seen him, even though she hadn't returned to this place since that horrible day.

The wind was bitingly cold, whipping her hair around her face and permeating her clothing. Navigating her way across the rocks and around the tide pools she came to a standstill in the place she knew she had been left waiting after the connection was lost. The briny smell of the sea and the thundering of the tide were all around her.

"_Rose Tyler-"_

The final memory flashed through her mind, sending pain from her heart to the rest of her body.

"Oh Doctor, where the _hell_ are you?" She said aloud, the wind carrying her voice out across the turbulent ocean.

"Rose…"

Rose froze because this time the voice was not in her head. It was behind her. A smile broke across her face and her stomach filled with razor-winged butterflies. Rose turned around.

And screamed.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hello dear readers! I am **_**so**_** happy at the reaction I received to the first chapter of this story! Thank you to Heart of Diamond, OTHCharmfan, JollyRoger1, , iPodge, and msbookworm93 for your lovely reviews, and also thank you to those who followed and favorited! I was **_**really**_** nervous to publish this story but you all have made my worries disappear **

Tap-tap-tap-tap

Tap-tap-tap-tap

The first thing Rose was aware of was the incessant tapping beat somewhere near her. The second thing was the pain. Opening her eyes was a true struggle, she felt as if she had been simultaneously hit by a train and drug through a black hole. Her whole body was on fire and behind her eyelids was the trusty golden void telling her, warning her, that danger was imminent. As if she couldn't deduce that for herself.

Finally wrenching her eyes open, she was momentarily blinded by a fluorescent light overhead and soon her other senses kicked in. All around her was a humming and she concluded that she must be on some sort of craft, aerial from her experience. The astringent smell that could only be medical filled her nose and made her begin to panic enough to attempt to move. She couldn't. There were restraints at increments across her body from head to toe and she had a sneaking suspicion that her clothes had been removed and changed for something much more revealing and cold.

Tap-tap-tap-tap

Tap-tap-tap-tap

"H-hello?" she managed to squeak out through a dry throat and wracking waves of agony.

"Well it is about time!" a male voice declared from somewhere near the top of her head, out of view, "I have been waiting for you, Rose Tyler, for a very, very long time. Almost thought my little kiddies had damaged the goods on the trip!"

Rose tried to swallow and closed her eyes again, embracing the void rather than the blinding light.

"Who-"she rasped before being cut off. She saw a dark shadow fall over her eyelids.

"You may call me the Master."

The Doctor was slumped inside of the "dog house" that the Master had so _generously_ given him to live in. Martha had been gone for nearly 11 months now. Well, 10 and a half. Well 10 months, 16 days, 7 hours and 5 seconds. In that time the Doctor had been forced to watch the Master, in all his insanity, commit heinous crimes against the world and the people he surrounded himself with. There was hardly a week where the bruises on Lucy Saxon's body or face had faded before a new one took its place.

Every day had been much the same and the Doctor's only solace was within himself. The pains of his now ancient body plagued him night and day and so, to escape it, he would lie back and close his eyes, dreaming of her.

"_How long are you going to stay with me?" He asked, his confident smile masking the twinge of fear he felt at what her answer may be. Rose turned to him, her hand squeezing his gently and a smile crossing her beautiful face as she replied._

"_Forever."_

All of his day dreams were like this, using his vast mind to envision all of the "everything that could be" if he hadn't been so stupid and lost her at Canary Warf. The pain of that day had never faded, and during the brief sleeps that he allowed himself, he had nightmares of her falling away amongst the huge metal bodies of the Daleks, reaching out to him, the fear in her eyes so great. And then Pete appeared and she was gone. Forever.

Yes, it seemed every day was like this. The Doctor had become used to the terrible madness of the Master seeping through their telepathic Time Lord link, sensing when he was particularly angry. Except for today. Today was different somehow. He was having one of his daydreams when a flash of pain and something familiar entered through the psychic link. Only it didn't feel like the Master. It was gone as soon as it came but left traces of a consciousness that was just out of his reach. He had been trying to unlock it all afternoon, glad for the time alone whilst the Master was gone. No doubt he would be back soon, ringing the bell that he summoned the Doctor with. He was never gone long.

The Doctor's reverie was interrupted by the click of high heels. He peeked out to see Lucy Saxon charging across the room, headed directly to the bar, red dress billowing behind her. She was always dressed in red, the Master _liked_ red. A fresh bruise was blossoming over her right eye and after filling up a glass with ice and vodka she held it to her face, closing her eyes and letting out a hiss of pain.

Suddenly her eyes snapped open and fixed upon the Doctor.

"What the hell are you looking at, Dog?" she snapped, using the Master's occasional nickname for him.

Resorting to his usual strategy, the Doctor stayed silent and continued staring at her, unable to help the sympathy he felt for her. Yet another victim of the Master.

"I asked you a question," she said silkily, striding over and pulling up a chair. This was unusual because usually she ignored him, unless the Master was torturing him in some way and then she would just stand there with a blank look on her face or laugh when she was expected to.

The Doctor did not respond again and turned to go and lay back down inside his "house".

"Oh you are in for a treat. My Master has well and truly gone above and beyond for this one," she said to him, halting him in his tracks.

_What if he has Martha? No, he would have paraded her around already, gloating in his victory. _The Doctor thought. Curiosity got the better of him as he turned to face the poor woman again.

"Now, I'm not going to ruin the surprise," she teased, swirling her drink, the ice tinkling against the crystal as she took a sip, "But let me just tell you, you are just going to _DIE!"_ she began laughing then, a mad sort of sound that sent shivers down the Doctor's arms. Rising abruptly, Lucy shot the Doctor one last glare and breezed out of the room, refilling her glass on the way.

"What could it possibly be?" the Doctor muttered to himself, still not used to the elderly voice that came out of him. Suddenly another shot of pain came though the psychic link, this time accompanied by a flash of gold and a wave of fear. The Doctor couldn't just sit here; he had to find out what the Master was up to. He was sure Lucy's threat and the signals he was getting through the Time Lord link were connected. Not for the first time did he selfishly long to have Rose there, despite the danger.

She would know what to do.

**A/N: Dun dun dunnnn. What is the Master up to with poor Rose? Will she escape? What's up with the weird void? Will the Doctor's arthritis become too much to bear? (Weeelll, maybe that's not such a pressing question. Har har.) In case you were wondering, the "dog house" and "dog" business came from the show. When the Doctor crawls out of the tent there is a food bowl on the ground that says "Dog". Poor old Doctor, I hate seeing him that way. More is on the way! I have 3 more chapters written so far and think that I will update at least once a week, if not more. **_**Please**_** review! It's the only way I know that I am doing it right and I simply adore hearing from my fellow Whovians. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Welcome back! Thank you so much to Katelyn, Heart of Diamond (whose story I love and you should check out), OTHCharmfan, Jolly Roger1, iPodge, and LadaHathaway for your wonderful reviews and also to those who continue to favorite and follow. Do you like the cover photo for it? I made it myself :] Here's the third chapter for you, I hope you like it!**

Tap-tap-tap-tap

Tap-tap-tap-tap

Slipping back into consciousness Rose heard the tapping and she knew the Master was there. She did not know how much time had passed since she had first awoken on this table to the same sound but something in her mind told her it had only been about two days.

_Twodaysonehourelevenminutesf iftysixseconds _some deep part of her brain told her, but she was too tired wonder how she knew that.

"Oh _finally_!" the Master said, and Rose heard footsteps coming towards her. One cold finger trailed down her cheek, continuing down her neck and stopping just below her collar bone. It sent shivers of revulsion down her spine. She was always awoken like this after she passed out, the pain in her body and mind becoming too unbearable, allowing the void she had swiftly begun to cherish to take her. It was better in the void, it hurt less there, but as hard as she tried she couldn't just stay there. During the first couple of "treatments" the Master had given her, Rose had tried to fight; it wasn't in her nature to surrender. However, it had just begun to get harder and more painful and the "treatments" became more and more frequent, the time she was allowed to rest decreasing. Rose wasn't sure what was happening to her, she had been told nothing, given no hints. What she undergone was shrouded from her mind and she was unable to recall what happened after the initial wave of pain hit her.

"My dear, sweet Rose, I think we are almost finished," the Master said cheerfully, and Rose opened her eyes, making them focus on the man beside her. In another life she might have thought he was handsome with his short, dark blonde hair, dark eyes that seemed familiar because of the infinite depth of them. But there was something intrinsically sinister about the Master's eyes; they contained none of the warmth that she expected. Part of Rose's mind wondered who the Master reminded her of. She could see vague, brief images of someone. Flickers of dark hair, dark eyes, a smile, a hand…love. However, as with a dream upon waking, the harder she tried to recall this person and the memories associated with them, the more distant they became. The Master was still stroking her neck affectionately, his finger growing more daring while she was lost in her own mind.

"Don't touch me," Rose muttered, attempting to fill her weak voice with as much venom as she could muster, which wasn't much in her state.

"Tsk, tsk, no need for that sweet Rose. Someday you might thank me for this, if you live through it all. We are going to have quite a life together, you and I," the Master soothed, brushing back her hair almost tenderly as she tried to look away. Suddenly he grabbed a fist full it and forced her to look right into his face. "This _is_ going to work!" the Master shouted, shaking her slightly, "You hear me little girl?!" Tears of pain welled in Rose's eyes and he mistook them for ones of fear, "Oh now, don't start crying my pet. You're my new prized possession! He has nothing on you, bad little wolf," A smile broke out across his face as he released her, patting the top of her head. "Now just a couple more times of this and I think, _ding!_ You'll be done!"

_He? _Rose had time to wonder before the pain started, this time worse than ever, blazing out from the right side of her chest and in her head and she was gone.

~D W~

The Doctor winced as the pain over the link began again and it was stronger than he had ever felt since it began two days ago. Although feeling this other being's pain was horrible, he had almost begun to depend on it. It meant the being was still alive. He had begun to create theories ever since Lucy Saxon's one way conversation with him, swiftly thinking through the details of one before immediately finding a fault and discarding it. It had been awhile since he had been able to use his vast mind and it was a relief to have something to do. His current plan to defeat the Master all depended on Martha now, there was nothing that he could do from his imprisonment on the Valiant and it had been a long, long ten months, eighteen days, three hours, and sixteen seconds.

The Doctor had not seen the Master in two days, which was beyond strange since, previously, the Master would plague him nearly every other hour, if not more. He had often sat down, as Lucy had, and talked to him, well, talked _at_ him since the Doctor rarely responded, something that was infuriating to the Master. He had a feeling that the Master craved a connection to another Time Lord, just as he did, but he refused to give him anything at all.

The Doctor had used his seclusion to attempt to communicate with Martha's family. Giving a slight signal with his face, he had managed to get Martha's mother, Francine over near him while she was clearing up a glass that she had "accidentally" dropped outside his tent flap.

"News?" the Doctor rasped from inside his "house" just loud enough so she could hear.

"Overheard strange stuff from the minions," she whispered, slowly picking up pieces of glass, "And screaming, lots of screaming from one of the locked rooms."

A slight wave of fear and a stronger one of anger made its way from the Doctor's hearts, "What sort of strange stuff?"

"He has a prisoner and has been using your space ship for something to do with it. Always flashes of lights and screams to go with them. One of them said-"

"What the hell are you doing?" the voice of Lucy Saxon demanded and the Doctor heard Francine stand up quickly.

"A glass broke, just cleaning it up."

The Doctor heard Lucy sigh and stride over so she was standing just outside of where he was crouching. "You. Are. So. CLUMSY!" Lucy shrieked, punctuating each word with a slam with her fist on the table and ending it by shoving Francine slightly.

"I'm sorry mum, won't happen again," Francine mumbled, and sunk down to finish cleaning. When Lucy's clicking heels indicated she was over by the bar again, the Doctor peeked out and made eye contact with Francine.

In barely audible whisper he said, "Please find out more. This may be our chance." Francine nodded, gathered up the last of the glass into a dustpan, and left the room, leaving the Doctor alone with Lucy. The information that Francine had given him wasn't much but it was something and now the Doctor was on mauve alert.

_He is using the TARDIS on someone?_ He thought to himself, now wondering if the psychic pain he had been feeling was coming from the TARDIS herself, not the poor person that the Master was torturing. That would make more sense because he _knew_ that the Master was the only Time Lord left besides himself, any other would be impossible. _Oh you poor thing, what is he doing to you?_

"You must be awfully lonely without my dear husband's visits," Lucy Saxon said from over by the bar, snapping the Doctor back to the present moment. He heard her walk slowly over to his "house", ice in her glass tinkling. "Come out here," she snapped and the Doctor, who would usually refuse, did, crawling out on all fours and righting himself painfully. Perhaps Lucy knew more than Francine.

"Sit in that wheelchair," Lucy commanded, pointing to said contraption that the Master rejoiced in pushing the Doctor around in. The Doctor shuffled over and sat down slowly, leaving his face impassive as he looked up to meet Lucy's eyes.

Lucy walked around to the back of the chair and pushed him over to the round viewing window. The Doctor tried not to gaze out upon the devastation the Master and his Toclafane "children" had wrought but his eyes were drawn down nonetheless.

"Look at what my powerful husband has done," Lucy murmured, taking a long drink from her glass, scotch this time by the smell of it, "For better or for worse I said, and I meant it. I meant it when I vowed I would forsake all others too, but it seems he has not kept that little promise."

"Lucy-"the Doctor started to speak but she cut him off.

"Don't speak unless I tell you to," Lucy snapped, "And don't you dare use my first name, it is Mrs. Saxon to you!" The Doctor heard her sigh behind him, "I never thought that the day would come when my only company would be an old, useless alien. Time Lord. Ha! I had such high hopes…" Lucy trailed off, lost in thought. The Doctor wanted to speak, to try to get information out of her but he thought it might be best for her to just continue on herself.

"Harry promised me the world. Promised me an immortal life, like him. Promised we would rule side by side over our dominion, forever. I actually believed him until I saw his new pet," Lucy tilted the glass all the way back and crunched an ice cube after swallowing the last of her scotch. "He didn't tell me much, but I am smart, regardless of what he says. Yes, I figured it out. I thought all his planning, all that technical rigging up to your TARDIS was for me. But I was so wrong, so STUPID!" she shouted and flung the crystal glass against the wall. The shards rained down upon the carpet, glittering in the artificial lighting.

The Doctor was frozen, mind racing at all of the possibilities. _Pet? TARDIS?_

"But now I may have spoiled the surprise, Doctor. You'll find out soon enough I am sure, and then you will hurt as much as I have. Especially when I take matters into my own hands."

The Doctor heard her walk away, stumbling slightly and calling for Francine to pick up her mess.

Left to transport himself back to his "house" the Doctor took one last look down upon the planet he strove to protect and wheeled himself backwards. Lucy was jealous, but jealous of whom? The prisoner was most likely female and the Master was using the TARDIS on her. Between that and the paradox machine, his poor TARDIS must be under enormous strain, her energy surely couldn't withstand much more of this. Lucy seemed to think that he would care about the fate of the prisoner, and he would, regardless of who it was, but the way she said it indicated that he had an attachment to them. His mind immediately went to Rose, and for the first time he was truly glad she had been pulled into Pete's World. At least she was safe from the Master's insanity. His mind ran through the long list of his past companions and people he had met on his travels but without more information he was at a loss of who it could be.

Gingerly he stood up, cursing his aged body. He had been elderly before, in past regenerations, but he had grown used to his young and spritely body that could take a hit and bounce right back. The aged version wasn't nearly so much fun what with all the aches and pains. Halfway to his "house" he paused to rest, leaning heavily on the center table. Looking around he noticed for the first time that he was absolutely alone in the room. No guards, no Lucy, nobody. This was the opportunity he had been waiting for, for two days. A chance to explore!

The Doctor mustered his strength and walked as quickly as he could towards the door that he thought might lead to the room that Francine had mentioned. The door slid open with a hiss, revealing a long hallway. Taking a deep breath, the Doctor began walking; listening hard for screaming and footsteps alike but there was total silence. Cursing his old body once again, he picked up the pace, painful as it may be and, turning a corner, he heard it. A faint scream made its way to his ears, coming from a hallway off to his right. The scream was accompanied by a wave of pain from the psychic connection and he knew he had the right place. The Doctor hobbled towards the noise, not caring anymore about getting caught. If he could just get one look!

He rounded a corner just as the screaming stopped. This hallway ended a few paces in front of him, a door being the only other way out. The Doctor knew this must be the right place. A small window was built near the top of the door, and from it a golden glow emanated. Abruptly the glow went out and before the Doctor had time to react the door opened and the Master stepped out. The Doctor tried to catch a glimpse of what lay beyond the door but the Master shut it too quickly for him to see anything except what looked to be hospital equipment.

The Master did not notice him at first; he was obviously deep in thought, a small smile on his contemplative face. Surprise crossed his features when he saw the Doctor, replaced by anger and then…gloating? in sequence.

"Now, now Doctor what are you doing up and about?" the Master asked, his voice full of false concern. He strode over and grabbed the Doctor's arm roughly, steering him, not away, but towards the door. They stopped in front of it and the Doctor was forced to meet the Master's gaze.

"I bet you'd just _love_ to know what lies behind door number three!" the Master said with a flourish, still gripping the Doctor's arm, a look of manic glee firmly planted on his face. The Doctor was determined not to let anything slip, not pain nor the curiosity that was burning inside him. The Master's face took on a mischievous expression, looking like a child that was up to no good, "Go on, open it."

The Doctor could hardly believe the Master was just going to let him open the door but he was not about to miss the chance to find out the answer to the mystery that had been plaguing him. With his free arm he shakily reached out and put his hand on the knob. Just before turning it, he looked at the Master who was gazing at him with an odd expression, one of uncontrollable anticipation. The Doctor took a deep breath, turned the knob, and wrenched the door open; steeling himself for whatever horror the Master had waiting in store for him. Whatever it was, he could handle it.

**A/N: Ooooh this was a nice long chapter eh? Another cliffhanger, I know, I know, I am evil. If you want to find out what happens, then please review! I have many twists and turns up my sleeve but I am willing to be a little kind if **_**you'll**_** be kind and feed my muse with reviews! Oh hey, that sort of rhymed ^_^ Until next time, dear readers….**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello, hello, hello! Thank you to , JollyRoger1, LadaHathaway, , msbookworm93, TARDISLover6, Heart of Diamond, Unlogd Frostfyre, charchi8987, MishaRoseTennant, and one anonymous guest for your wonderful reviews as well as those who continue to favorite and follow. You keep me inspired! Seriously, 5 seconds out of your day makes my entire day so please continue reviewing. I hope all of my American friends had a good Thanksgiving, I ate much too much and am burning the calories by writing the rest of the weekend. That works, right? ;] And so, without further ado, Chapter 4!**

_Just before turning it, he looked at the Master who was gazing at him with an odd expression, one of uncontrollable anticipation. The Doctor took a deep breath, turned the knob, and wrenched the door open; steeling himself for whatever horror the Master had waiting in store for him. Whatever it was, he could handle it. _

But there was nothing to handle. The fluorescent lights revealed a relatively large, vacant room filled with hospital equipment that had probably been taken from the Valliant's infirmary. At the center of the room was what appeared to have once been an operating table but it had been converted to some sort of contraption that made the Doctor ill without knowing why.

There were metal cuffs placed at increments, he guessed for ankles, knees, hips, wrists, elbows, and neck. Wires and tubes, emanated from various points around the room, tangled upon the table's surface as if they had recently been detached from the "patient". Monitors lay dormant, their screens blank. The table had a plastic covering stretched over it and where the person's hands would be there were long fingernail scratches. Whoever had been screaming had been in immense pain. So strong he could still sense it.

The Doctor scanned the room with wide eyes, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. The Master let him take a few steps further in and when the Doctor glanced at him, his face held a gloating look. "Well what did you expect Doctor?" he inquired in a mirthful tone, "That I would reveal my grand plan in such an…anticlimactic way? You should know me better than that."

The Doctor didn't respond, busy with trying to identify and catalogue everything he could see. There was a familiar scent in the room that he couldn't put his finger on, as well as the distinct odor of Time. There had been a powerful surge going through here not long ago and he guessed that was what the golden glow had been, the Time Vortex.

He recognized cables coming out of a wall close to the table as ones from the TARDIS. They had been stripped and rigged with pads and needles and he shuddered to think what had been done with them.

"Come now Doctor, I think you've seen enough," the Master said and steered him by the shoulders around and out of the room. The Doctor took one last look over his shoulder as he was leaving the room and his hearts constricted. This was at least partially designed to hurt him, too. Whatever this poor being had been through, it was his fault and he was more determined than ever to get to the bottom of the Master's mystery. He would do whatever it took to make this right and to end the Master's reign of terror once and for all.

~D W~

_"Rose…"_

Rose woke with a start, sitting straight up before she realized that she had the freedom to do so. Her head was spinning, voices and images floating across her vision in a relentless stream. Opening her eyes Rose saw that she was in a small bed, in a tiny, windowless room. She closed her eyes again, grabbing her head with both hands, overwhelmed by the constant chatter of her brain. What was the matter with her? She was seeing so much, every thought she had exploding into a spectrum of other thoughts, those thoughts exploding, and so on.

"Go away, go away, go away," she muttered to herself, rocking back and forth, trying to clear her mind but the force of the ceaseless stream of consciousness just wouldn't relent. Somewhere at the back of her mind she heard the door open and slam shut but she was too overwhelmed to even see who it was. Then she realized that she _felt_ who it was. The madness emanating from the Master was so distinct she didn't know how she didn't feel it before, when she was in the other place. Now that she was focusing on him she could feel waves of emotion after emotion rippling through her head, mixing and mingling with the other thoughts and feelings already warring inside of her.

"Marvelous, isn't it?" the Master said softly, taking both of Rose's wrists and prying her hands away from her head. He held them both with one hand grabbed her chin, forcing her to face him. She opened her eyes and met his gaze. His expression was one of uncontained joy and triumph as he inspected her, turning her head this way and that.

"What's happening to me? What did you do to me?" Rose demanded, wishing her voice sounded stronger than the weak rasp she heard herself utter. Smiling, he released her chin and placed two fingers on her temple.

"I have made you so much more Rose Tyler. You are my most brilliant creation. My secret weapon," the Master said, taking a seat on the bed beside her. She wanted to recoil, to be as far away from him as possible but he held her fast. Everything about him felt wrong to her, and yet at the same time she felt their connection. She could feel him in her head and it made her physically sick. However, the longer he was touching her temple the quieter her head got, the deafening chatter dwindling to whispers.

"What. Did. You. Do?" Rose asked again, pointedly, forcing her voice to sound louder and more assertive. Her determination just seemed to amuse the Master though, and he chuckled lightly.

"Oh Rose, you silly little girl. The question isn't what _I _did to _you_, it's what you did to yourself."

At Rose's questioning look he continued, "Did you and the Doctor really think that the influence of the Time Vortex on a human could be completely removed? As soon as I landed on this ridiculous planet in this ridiculous time I could sense you across the dimensions. The power coming from you was so strong it was like a homing beacon. It took me a little while to figure out what happened, but I had some assistance from the Doctor and your fascinating friend Captain Jack. Then again, I suppose if my _personal_ experiment worked you might be having a slightly difficult time remembering your life before me. Before I saved you."

Rose hated to admit it, but he was right. The harder she thought about what he was saying, something about the Doctor, the Time Vortex, Jack- the more elusive the memories became, leaving her with only snippets of images and feelings as her brain struggling to process what she was hearing. She knew she _knew_ those people, that those events happened, but it seemed like they happened to a different person, not her. Her thoughts wanting to run away into various directions and she tried hard to reel them back in, to focus on what the Master was saying. At this point however, he seemed to be talking more to himself than to her,

"Oh they didn'tsell you out, little wolf, although it would make for a better story if they had. You can believe me, you can tell when I am lying now, if you try hard enough, but we will discuss that later. Anyway, I was able to access their memories, them being my little slaves and all. The Doctor's mind practically shouts ROSE TYLER when he thinks no one is listening. Pathetic. Oh the adventures you two used to have, flying across space and time inside his little blue box. The good Samaritans of the galaxy. Makes me positively nauseous. But those times are over." The Master stood up, and began pacing in the small room. Whatever he had done to her head had helped, all Rose could hear now were whispers but it was still very distracting.

Rose wanted to scream in frustration as her memories slipped away. The Master had done something to her, to her mind, and she was furious. Who she had been, who she _was, _ was slipping away piece by piece as he spoke. Every time she accessed a memory, it was deleted from her mind in a flash. Panicing, he knew she had to stop trying to remember, that she might lose everything but that was impossible!

"Now! Here's how it's going to be, my little pet," the Master said, his pacing unbroken, "You are on my side now, you are going to do everything in your power to help me, and you are going to love every minute of it. You know why?" He stopped suddenly, stalking towards Rose who reflexively cringed back. Soon he was towering above her, forcing her to lie back down as he descended upon her.

His hands on either side of her head, he leaned his face down until she thought, with horror, that he was going to kiss her. Instead he stopped so their noses were almost touching. His voice was so low and menacing that fear instantly surged through her, "Because if you do not, little wolf, I am going to find, and maim, torture and eventually kill each and every single person that you have ever loved, have ever known, have ever even smiled at. I can find them, and I will find them. And you know who will go first, hmm? He leaned farther so his lips brushed her ear as he whispered, "Your _precious_ Doctor."

With that the Master kissed her violently and painfully. Reacting immediately, Rose snapped in to action and managed to grab a hold of his lip with her teeth and she bit down as hard as she could, at the same time slamming her foot into his knee.

The Master let out a yell and pushed back from her, hard. His hand swung back and he slapped her so hard that she saw stars. The anger that surged off of him was nearly tangible. Rose's eyes grew wide and fear snaked its way out from her belly to her fingertips, doing battle with the rage she felt at having him force himself upon her. He was insane, having him this close, it _radiated_ off of him into her mind. Then, the anger was gone as if it had never been there. He wiped his mouth, blood smearing across his cheek and the back of his hand.

"Because, you see," the Master said, as if nothing had happened. He was standing now, staring down at her as she sat up, a mad smile breaking his features into a terrible mask of triumph, "I don't need him anymore, I have you, and all I have to do is wait until everything you were is gone. You feel it don't you? Your former life slipping away. Your fight. Your _love._ You will be mine, Rose Tyler. "

Rose was enraged, the fury was blinding and as she went to wipe her own mouth, she saw golden light trickling off of her skin. Her vision was becoming clouded with the light, with the power, and at the same time her mind cleared, the stream of consciousness organizing itself into something that made sense. She could _see_ everything when she wanted to, and right now she wanted to see the Master destroyed. She was not Rose Tyler, vulnerable human. Her mind became more and more focused and she felt the power channeling, building up.

"Oh now _that_," the Master said admiringly, stepping even closer, "_That_ is beautiful. But not yet, Little Wolf, not yet, you're not strong enough." Right as Rose was about to unleash her power at him, the Master's hands shot out and grabbed her skull and all of a sudden it was like a bomb went off in her head. Voices-images-feelings exploded inside, all clamoring for her immediate attention and she screamed. Through her screams she heard the Master laugh uproariously and exit the room, the door slamming behind him as she fell to the bed in agony.

Meanwhile…

Martha Jones was tired. So tired. Her life had become one nightmare after another as she canvassed the globe on her mission. She only had one more place to go, and then she could end her quest. The boat slid through the dark water unseen and she pulled the neck of her jacket tighter. Her eyes burned and longed to close for at least twelve hours of sleep but she shook her head and took a deep breath of ocean air. She could sleep when she was done.

_I'm coming, my Doctor._

**A/N: Oh that Master is SO EVIL! And, I suppose, so am I heh heh. The only cure for my sinister ways is a great big dose of reviews! You must reform me, I don't want to be evil, I want to write lovely fluffy Rose/Ten scenes. But, like I just said, I need help! Review, review, review please! Can we make it to 30? To 45? I adore you all and if there are any requests out there I might be convinced to grant them. The next chapter is one of my favorites I think, and then the action will really begin! **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello my lovely readers! Thank you to , LadaHathaway, pokingdots, Barefoot Beach Bum, Frostfyre, JollyRoger1, fantasticvoyage6, Doctor-Who-Merlin-SG1, OTHCharmfan, PirategirlRobin, Heart of Diamond, and an anonymous guest for your wonderful reviews. This chapter will see the beginning of using direct quotes and events from the actual show, specifically **_**The Last of the Time Lords. **_**I am speeding up the timetable a little bit as I know Martha was gone for a year and I've already set it at about 11 months, so bear with me.**__**This episode contains one of my favorite scenes that, for some unfathomable reason, Netflix edited out. So if you have not seen the scene depicted below featuring **_**I Can't Decide**_** by the Scissor Sisters, then go look it up on YouTube this instant! Go on, I can wait. Done it? Love it? Ok, let's continue. Sit back and enjoy and please review! Your reviews feed my ravenous little muse and make the writing process go by ever so much quicker, not to mention I am having an absolutely horrid weekend and need some cheering up. It was hard to write today but I did it for you guys :]**

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own anything Doctor Who or Scissor Sisters related. Anything you recognize, not mine!**

A blinding, golden light filled his head and nearly felled the Doctor as he was hobbling to lie down in his "house". He dropped to his knees and gripped his head but as quickly as it had arrived, it was gone. In its place there was a consciousness. The shock of it left him gasping for air. There was another Time Lord, or something like it, _very _close. The strength of her mind, and now he could feel it was a female, was so strong, stronger than even the Master's and simultaneously utterly foreign and familiar to him. The Time Lord consciousness that he expected was laced with raging emotions and feelings, something that his species had nothing but distain for. No, this was not a Time Lord, it was something new, _she_ was something new, and _she_ was _very_ angry and very frightened.

Again, the Doctor worried for Martha. She had been gone so long. Was it possible that the Master had gotten his hands on her and done something horrible? Had he exposed _her _to the Time Vortex?

The memory came unbidden to his mind.

_The Doctor had always known he would die eventually. But did it have to be today, on this satellite? Only a year ago he would have been more than willing. The Time War had left him ragged and full of hate. But then he had found her, his Rose, his savior and everything had changed. She had given him a reason to live, shown him that he did what he did for a reason. That pink and yellow mortal girl had turned his world upside down. Now, with his final death looming over him, his only solace was that Rose was safe at home, with the TARDIS, and that the Daleks would never get a hold of the two things that he cared about most in the universe. Suddenly the familiar grinding of the TARDIS could be heard and he whipped around to face it. The blue box materialized slowly, pulsating in and out of view to the sound of the rotors. The door slammed open and he was blinded by the distinct golden light of the Time Vortex. He fell back in shock, his hearts racing out of his chest. The light faded and suddenly she was there, standing over him. His sheer terror and horror at what he knew had happened but didn't want to believe was evident on his face and in his voice as he cried, "What have you done?!"_

_Golden light was spilling out from Rose's eyes and emanating from her body as she looked down at him and replied in an ethereal voice, "I looked into the TARDIS and the TARDIS looked into me..."_

The Doctor shook himself out of that painful memory. He had almost lost her then, had given up one of his few remaining regenerations to save her, but he knew that was something that he would do every single time if need be. Now he was just being ridiculous. The Master may be utterly insane but he knew the dangers of the Time Vortex, what it would do to a mortal. Any human woman he did that to would burn up within minutes, as Rose almost did. Even on Time Lord children, the practice of making them gaze into it was risky. The Master was a prime example of the damage it could do.

Not knowing was driving the Doctor crazy. If he had his younger body back he would have gotten to the bottom of all of this long ago and stopped the Master. In this elderly form he was less than useless and he felt more imprisoned by his body than by the Master.

The Doctor simply could not take it anymore. The time was near for him to enact the signal that he, Francine, and Jack had painstakingly worked out over the past months. Old or not, he was still the Doctor, the Oncoming Storm, and he could still bring the Master down. Instead of standing back up and torturing his joints even more, the Doctor simply crawled into his "house". From outside he heard the distinct click of Lucy's heels on the floor, no doubt going for another drink. He could also hear Francine busying herself nearby.

Before the Doctor could get comfortable however, the speakers in the room hissed to life and a voice came through, "Citizens rejoice, your lord and master stands on high. Playing track three!"

The Doctor heard the elevator door hiss open just as a song began blaring over the loudspeakers.

_I can't decide whether you should live or die  
Oh you'll probably go to heaven,  
Please don't hang your head and cry…_

The Doctor peeked out through a tear in the cloth to see the Master dance across the floor. He grabbed Lucy and kissed her hard and passionately, placed his lips upon her hand and danced away from her.

_No wonder why  
My heart feels dead inside  
It's cold and hard and petrified…_

He sat down in the chair at the head of the long table and spun around just as Francine placed a tray of tea down for him. Singing along with the song, he grabbed a cup, took a gulp, and immediately spat it out onto the table.

_Lock the doors and close the blinds  
We're going for a ride…_

The Master glared at Francine whilst he proceeded to dump the rest of the tea onto the floor tossing the cup with it. Francine jumped back looking frightened as the Master leapt up and danced his way up the stairs to the balcony overlooking the room. He dove for the oversized bell that he summoned the Doctor with and the Doctor signed, knowing the time for more psychological torture was at hand. This was the longest that the Master had gone without summoning him; it had been nice while it lasted.

_Oh I could throw you in the lake  
Or feed you poisoned birthday cake  
I won't deny I'm gonna miss you when you're gone…_

The Master rang the bell in time with the music and the Doctor poked his head out. With a glare, crawled out of his "house". He tried to stand but the Master grabbed him by the lapels and sang into his face and proceeded to shove him down into the awaiting wheelchair.

_Oh I could bury you alive  
But you might crawl out with a knife  
And kill me when I'm sleeping  
That's why…_

The Doctor held on tight as the Master wheeled him around, singing the lyrics loudly and exaggeratedly into his ear as Francine, Lucy, and the multitude of guards looked on.

_I can't decide  
Whether you should live or die  
Oh, you'll probably go to heaven  
Please don't hang your head and cry…_

They did a loop of the long table, and the Doctor saw Francine glare at the Master and give a sympathetic look to him. The Doctor was sure to keep his face completely impassive, not acknowledging that anything was happening at all.

_No wonder why  
My heart feels dead inside  
It's cold and hard and petrified  
Lock the doors and close the blinds  
We're going for a ride…_

The song died off and the Doctor was left staring out of the porthole that Lucy had wheeled him to just the other day. The Master crouched down next to him but the Doctor continued to ignore him.

"It's ready to rise, Doctor," he said, his arm slung along the back of the wheelchair, "The new Time Lord Empire." The Doctor watched as a couple of Toclafane flew by and did not answer the Master. "It's good isn't it? Isn't it good?!" the Master asked, almost as if he was looking for the Doctor's approval, but the Doctor did nothing. "Anything?" the Master asked in an exasperated tone and waved his hand in front of the Doctor's blank face, "No? Anything?"

More and more Toclafane streamed by the window, and inside the Doctor was screaming with a million things to say to the Master at this moment. He had never been very good at keeping quiet, especially in this regeneration, but he was determined not to give the Master anything that he wanted, even a simple "no".

"Oh but they broke your hearts, didn't they?" the Master asked, "They, those Toclafane." He turned from the window to look at the Doctor, their faces inches apart. "Ever since you worked out what they really are." He was right, of course, what the Master had done to those searching for Utopia was the most heinous crime he had ever seen. The Master continued, "They say Martha Jones has come back home," The Doctor couldn't help but turn to look at him, "Why would she do that?"

_Martha was safe!_ He thought as elation flared unseen inside of him swiftly followed by rage at the implied threat. The Doctor finally rasped, "Leave her alone."

"You said something to her, didn't you?" the Master asked, "On the day I took control. What did you tell her?" He was starting to get angry now.

"I have one thing to say to you," the Doctor said and the Master raised one eyebrow, "You know what it is."

The Master made a scoffing noise, suddenly flustered, "Oh no you don't." He stood up, wheeling the Doctor around and sending him crashing into a wall. "I have something to tell you!" He shouted and spun on his heel to look at the Doctor one more time, "Or rather show you, and this, my dear Doctor, will _eviscerate_ your hearts."

A voice came over the loudspeakers, "We are now entering Zone One Airspace, citizens rejoice!"

The Master clapped his hands loudly, "Come on people! What are we doing?" He shouted, "Launch Day in 24 hours!"

The Doctor could see Francine out of the corner of his eye and knew it was now or never. He placed the first three fingers of his right hand upon his left leg, where she could see them. She walked by him and returned the signal. The plan was in motion.

He turned his attention to the consciousness that he could just barely feel in the corner of his mind.

_Hold on_, he thought, _Just hold on, I am coming for you, whoever you are._

~DW~

The Doctor was waiting. Time had never passed so slowly for him as it did in the 11 hours it took for the plan to go into action. Every millisecond that ticked by seemed like twenty. The clock on the wall turned to 15:00 hours. The Doctor was unsure about the specifics of the plan, only that Jack would break free at 3pm on the day after the signal and that Francine would get her hands on the Master's sonic screwdriver and give it to the Doctor. He knew that the whole family was involved, Martha's dad, her sister, Tish. He felt terrible that it had come down to this, that he couldn't save them, that he needed help that very well could cost any of them their lives. All of this was his fault and the guilt ate at him ceaselessly.

The Master was sitting at the long table with his coat slung over the back of the chair. Lucy, in the same red evening dress was standing behind him rubbing his shoulders. The Master was tense, but excited. The Doctor could feel the manic turmoil that raged just under the surface of the Master's seemingly impassive face. The Master, quite literally, could hardly contain himself. Lucy looked like she would rather be wringing his neck than rubbing it. She thought no one was looking at her and the hatred that manifested itself on her face as she stared at the back of her husband's head made the Doctor shudder slightly.

The Doctor surveyed the room, taking in the number of armed guards, the crew of the ship on the balcony. Tish was polishing a silver vase to one side of the room and Francine was a few feet to the right of the Master and Lucy, dusting the crystal liquor bottles. Tish and Francine were as on edge as he was, all three waiting for the slightest sign that the plan was in action. All of a sudden an alarm began to sound and emergency lights began flashing.

"Condition Red! Repeat, Condition Red!" a voice announced from the loudspeakers. The Master turned towards the bridge, irritation plain on his face. He rose and ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. The Doctor began crawling out of his "house" as fast as possible and he saw Francine dive for the Master's jacket. She flung it to Tish who had run over to the Doctor. She raced the rest of the way and frantically shoved it into his hands. Hearts racing, the Doctor dug through the pockets of the coat until his fingers wrapped around the cool metal of the Master's sonic.

The Master turned and the Doctor aimed the sonic at him, supporting himself on the bannister.

"Oh, I see," The Master said, raising his hands up in surrender. The Doctor kept a firm grip on the sonic, prepared to use it. He had to tell the Master though; he had to give him a chance.

"I told you," he rasped, breathing hard, "I have one thing to say." The Master _would_ listen this time, he _had_ to listen! For his part, the Master was looking down upon the Doctor with contempt. He wasn't accustomed to losing, but this time he had.

Suddenly, a wide grin broke the glare on the Master's face and he threw his head back and laughed. Confusion made the Doctor uneasy and he furrowed his brow. What in the world did the Master have to laugh about? He was beaten! The Doctor had to use the sonic, he had no choice.

He pressed the button and…nothing happened. He tried to fiddle with it a little bit but nothing was happening. _No!_ he thought in panic as the Master descended the stairs, mock pity written all over his face.

"Isomorphic controls," the Master said quietly, picking the useless sonic out of the Doctor's clasped hands. _No-no-no-no! _The Doctor thought in desperation. How had the Master rigged his sonic with isomorphic controls? He supposed he shouldn't be surprised, but he was. Of all the scenarios he had thought out over this time, this possibility had never crossed his vast mind and he was furious with himself. Something strange crossed the Master's face a split second before he hopped down one step and gave the Doctor a full force slap.

The Doctor fell back and skidded across the floor slightly, head ringing with the force of the blow. Somewhere he heard the Master continue speaking, "Which means they only work for me. Like this!"

He swung around and aimed the sonic at Francine, shooting a gold ray of sonic energy at her. She cried out and fell down. Everyone in the room was paralyzed with fear.

"Say sorry!" The Master growled, sonic still aimed at the older woman who was on her hands and knees.

"Sorry! Sorry," she managed to get out despite the pain and kept repeating it.

Tish, unable to contain herself any longer cried, "Mum!" and ran over to her mother, wrapping her arms around her and helping to raise her.

"Didn't you learn anything," the Master said in a tone that you would scold a disobedient child with, "From the blessed Saint Martha." He walked across the room towards his coat and Lucy sprang into action, lightly hopping across the floor in her heels. She retrieved the coat for him and helped him slide it on. The look on her face was of blank obedience, the Doctor could see no life behind her eyes.

"Siding with the Doctor, is a very dangerous thing to do. Take them away!" At his command, two of the armed guards approached the terrified women and led them out of the room. The Doctor was still sprawled on the floor where the Master's blow had left him.

"Okay," the Master said, and bent to lift the Doctor up, "Gotcha". Pain erupted from every joint in his body as he was forced to rise and he let out an involuntary groan. "There you go, gramps," the Master said as he settled the Doctor into one of the chairs at the table. The Master slid up onto the table and turned the Doctor's chair with his foot to face him.

"Oh, d'you know," he said, his disturbing calm taking the place of the fury that had only been there a moment before, "I remember the days when the Doctor, oh that famous Doctor, was waging a Time War, battling sea devils and axons…he sealed the rift of the Medusa Cascade, single handed." The mention of the Rift stung the Doctor as terrible memories came unbidden to his mind. The Master blew his cheeks out in mock amazement, "Look at him now, stealing screwdrivers. How did he ever come to this? Oh yeah, me!" A grin broke his features and he began to laugh uproariously.

The pain in the Doctor's body was so great he was having trouble mustering energy to form words. He _had_ to tell the Master before it was too late. He could still stop this. "I just…need…you…to lis-"he began, but the Master cut him off.

"No! It's _my_ turn!" He said, and the Doctor could feel the Master's anger building again. "Revenge! Best served hot! And this time, it's all for you, Doctor. I think it's time for the big reveal, don't you?" Cold fear snaked its way through the Doctor. The Master could only mean one thing. The big secret. The Master kicked the chair so it swiveled around a few times quickly, and lightly hopped off the table, giving a signal to one of the crew who entered the elevator at a quick pace.

"Doctor, Doctor, Doctor," the Master said, shaking his head sadly as he paced the room, "To use these helpless humans in your, quite frankly, futile, quest to stop me is just plain selfish. I am starting a bigger, better world! A world for us, and you would _sacrifice_ the family of your _companion_ just to take me out. But then, you've always been willing to make sacrifices, eh?" The Doctor's chair had stopped turning, leaving him facing the wall but at the Master's words he turned the chair around to face him.

"There was one particular _companion_, wasn't there? Oh…what was her name? I can see and feel the memories of her inside you, you know. When you think I'm not looking. But I am always looking, dear Doctor. You can't keep secrets from me! You _loved_ her didn't you? And sacrificed her just the same, this little mortal girl, all pink and yellow. The Time Lords would be ashamed of you."

The Doctor's hearts were beating so hard and fast he thought his elderly body may have a heart attack. Panic was sweeping through him with every word the Master said. The Master _knew_ about _her._ Pink and yellow, those were his thoughts; the Master had picked them right out of his head. How could he have been so careless? _But she is safe!_ He tried to tell himself but his incredibly vast and, apparently, incredibly dense mind was putting the pieces together in rapid order. The TARDIS. The consciousness. The Master's veiled threats. Lucy's words. Cold sweat broke out all over the Doctor's body and he was breathing hard.

_No! No! No! No! No! _ Was the only coherent thought his brain could make as terror set in.

"Ah, I see you are beginning to _FINALLY_ see what is really going on here, Doctor," the Master said, grinning. He abruptly stopped pacing and strode over to the Doctor. Placing both hands on the arms of the chair he leaned in close, "Did you really think that you could keep something like that, something like _her_, from me? Did you really think that she was safe in that parallel world? That I wouldn't be able to feel power like that across the barriers between dimensions?" His face was inches from the Doctor's now, a mad light dancing in his eyes as he said quietly, "The Bad Wolf!"

The Doctor heard the elevator door open but his view was blocked by the Master who was still holding his gaze, trying to drink in every bit of pain he was inflicting upon the Doctor. Silence had fallen across the room. The Doctor tried hard to keep eye contact but now he could feel _her_. Time stood still. He knew it was her without looking, just as one can feel the heat from a fire. The Master's mouth twisted into a smirk as he pushed himself back from the Doctor and swept out of the way with a dramatic flair. The Doctor turned his eyes slowly toward the elevator, the blood pounding in his ears.

"Rose."

**A/N: Eeek! Cliffhanger! Review :]**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey gang! I'm back! Thank you so much to jollyroger1, HeyThere Gorgeous, Dreamcatcher49, Heart of Diamond, OnyxDay, Doctor-Who-Merlin-Sg1, LadaHathaway, Tasha, OTHCharmfan, MidnightForever17, fantasticvoyage6, Names have power, and one guest who really needed an update :] It may be slightly confusing with the Rose parts because she doesn't know her name so I just refer to her as "her". Bear with me and enjoy!**

There was no sense of awakening. No foggy stage between sleep and consciousness. One minute there was blackness, the next moment…life.

She was in the comfort and solitude of the void…but something was different. The void had _changed_. Before it had just been a safety haven within herself that she could escape to or a message telling her something was wrong. Now it all made sense. A song floated amongst the gold's and yellows of this beautiful place. A song so ancient it transcended time and space and carried with it the histories of thousands of nations on hundreds of worlds – the voices of countless individuals from an impossible expanse of reality.

She absorbed all of this whilst she laid there, on the cold, hard bed in the tiny, windowless room…but she wasn't aware of her surroundings, only of the breathtaking beauty of this newfound enlightenment. She didn't want to lose this just yet, as she had before. She knew she had felt this once, long ago, in circumstances that she could not recall, but then it had been accompanied by searing pain and terror. Now it was free of the bad and she could feel power coursing through every atom of her being.

The planet she knew she was suspended above careened through space, falling, falling…

She breathed deep and opened her eyes. The golden light of the void dissipated and gave way to a whole new spectrum of sensory stimulation. She first saw the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. Really_ saw_ them. She could see the mercury vapor inside the rods being charged by electricity, creating a visually harsh, yet spectacular glow. Why had she never appreciated them before?

Every inhalation brought to her a myriad of flavors upon the air. It tasted metallic, _had she tasted air before?_ And recycled. Each breath carried with it the breath of a hundred people that had breathed the same air before her. The thought should have been repulsive but somehow it was miraculous. They all lived off of the same combination of elements, as did the peoples of a thousand different worlds.

Her mind began to run away from her then, skipping down channels she now realized were timelines. All of this had made no sense to her when she had last awoken _eleven hours forty-six minutes twenty seven seconds_ ago but now it was so clear and easy to comprehend that she felt as if she had always sensed the world this way.

Suddenly the slightly giddy high that she was experiencing waned. The timelines around her were short, so short. The song she was hearing was drowned out by one so sad that tears immediately sprung to her eyes. Where was that sadness coming from? Something horrible was going on around her and she must discover what, starting with the source of that tragic melody.

"_Help him…help us…"_

The message was not so much words as mental images accompanied by feelings. She saw the outline of a strange man – no, two men paired with the emotions of love, hope, and sadness. She didn't understand, didn't recognize them, but the message was clear. She had to help. She was the only one who could.

A memory sprung to her mind then, this one terrible and recent. A man…the _Master_…her master? No, she had no master, she was…

She was…

Who was she?

The memory was of this _Master's_ threat to her if she did not obey him. At the time she had believed him but had fought, there was reason to fight. Now those reasons flitted away like so many birds on a spring day, but left behind them the resolve to resist.

"_Because if you do not, little wolf, I am going to find, and maim, torture and eventually kill each and every single person that you have ever loved, have ever known, have ever even smiled at. I can find them, and I will find them…"_

Anger rose in her then, starting in the pit of her stomach and rising until it had reached her heart. It settled there. She would have to be careful. _Very _careful. Play along, listen carefully, and even obey, until she could escape.

"Little Wolf?" she tested the words on her tongue. It sounded familiar but somehow she knew it was not her name.

Confused but determined, she set her bare feet on the cold surface of the floor. She was about to go to the door when she heard footsteps approaching from outside. Reflexively, without knowing why, she lay back down on the bed and feigned sleep. Buttons on the keypad were being pressed and then the door clicked open.

"My goodness!" a familiar voice said from the doorway, "Your mental signature is so strong I could feel it from the other side of the ship!"

She grimaced internally and made a mental note to attempt to shield herself better, if that were possible. He, the Master, was making no attempt to shield, but all she could feel from him was horrible, manic glee.

"It's no use pretending to be asleep, I know you are awake." The silky voice was closer now, standing just above her prone form.

Reluctantly, she opened her eyes and stared warily at the looming figure above her. He was dressed in a sharp suit, as usual, and his face bore a fond smile. As someone may gaze at a favorite dog.

_I am no pet_.

Not liking the position they were in, she sat up and drew the thin blanket to cover the skin that her small hospital gown revealed.

"I can feel your rebellious thoughts, you know," the Master said in an amused tone and she made a point to think them even harder. The Master took a seat on the edge of the bed and she drew her knees up to avoid contact with him. To her satisfaction she could see that his lip was swollen and there was a small, angry red split visible. She said nothing.

"Now, I know that you remember our little chat from last time. I trust you've had some time to consider my…offer. When I left you were in some pain, you _finally_ fell unconscious at which time I came in and calmed your mind. Isn't it wonderful?" With this he closed his eyes and tilted his head back, as if taking in the world around him. "You could feel like this all the time. Your existence was so pitiful before. All of humanity blundering about in a half blind state, only caring about where their next basket of chips is coming from or who is going to be their next shag. But no more! You are my finest creation, my most prized possession, and together we shall create a world in which all those pathetic apes _worship_ us."

"_I picked another stupid ape." _ The memory came to her a split second before it was gone entirely, as if it was never there. She only had time for a twinge of recognition before it vanished. The Master's eyes flew open and his head snapped around to look at her.

"I know what that was. I won't stand for it," he growled and touched her temple. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to pull away as a feeling like a mental vacuum surged through her head. When he released her she felt numb. "There, that's better," he said cheerfully, his flash of anger gone as soon as it had come. Why had it come? She couldn't remember now.

"Okay!" he clapped his hands and stood up, whirling to face her, excitement plain on his face. "Here's the plan. I am going to have one of my men fetch you at any moment. You'll have to look presentable so I shall have someone bring you something that befits someone of your…status." She raised an eyebrow at this but remained silent. He didn't seem to require any acquiescence from her anyway. He walked out of the room, his steps light, and paused before closing the door, putting his head in the gap.

"Be good, my little wolf, and don't be nervous for your debut, I know you shall be magnificent!" With a laugh he closed the door and she could hear his laughter growing fainter as he walked away.

She sat there for a moment, trying to remember what she had been doing before he came to call. She had been angry about something but that seemed to have waned somewhat since he touched her. In its place now was just plain confusion. She wished she could remember her name.

It was on the tip of her tongue when the keypad beeped again and the door opened to reveal a solemn looking woman carrying a dress bag. The woman was young, maybe late 20's but with lines in her face that made her look even older. Lines caused by a hard life. Heavy sadness. She could feel the sadness radiating off of the woman as she stepped inside the room followed by a guard dressed in full black uniform with a vicious looking gun slung over his shoulder.

However, when the woman turned to look at her, she could sense pure loathing seething through the thin mental connection that was established.

The woman was more open than the guard. Telepathic connections were already in place with her as opposed to the guard who was relatively shut off. She suspected that the Master was the cause of these mental doorways, but why did the woman hate her so much? Had she known her before…before…whatever happened?

The woman paused a few feet away from her and the guard closed the door and got into position, keeping his eyes averted from the women.

She couldn't tell if he were protecting the woman from her or vice versa.

She lifted her eyes to meet the woman's and was alarmed to see a bruise beginning to bloom on her cheek. Her eyes were red from crying, but their expression was like steel. She had blonde hair pulled back from her face into a bun and was wearing a floor length black dress.

The woman just stood there, gazing at her with an unnerving expression and every now and then violent impulses came through on the telepathic link.

"I am Lucy Saxon. The Master's _wife. _You will put this on after you have washed," the woman said with a look of disgust and thrust the garment bag towards her.

_What kind of person would marry a man like him?_ She thought but accepted the bag.

"Th-thanks, "she stuttered. "I'm…well I don't really know what my name is. 'M sorry. Don't suppose you know?"

The woman's glare became even fiercer. "Oh, the poor dear doesn't even know her own name. How pathetic. I'm here to get you ready, not to make friends, understand?"

The captive woman raised her eyebrows slightly but slid the zipper down the side of the bag. A slip of red satin slid out of the gap. She glanced at Lucy once more before unzipping the bag all the way and drawing the garment out. It was a floor length, crimson red dress.

"You can look at your pretty new clothes after you shower. Come with me," Lucy said condescendingly and turned to the guard. There must have been some sort of camera monitoring the door because it clicked open when the guard turned to face it. Lucy strode past him and he gestured to the captive to follow. Reluctantly she did, wrapping the blanket around her before she moved. Her legs were shaky from disuse and general malnourishment and as she took a couple of steps she swayed slightly on her feet. The guard reached for her arm to steady her, then dragged her down the hall.

She tried to take in as much as she could from the short trip but there wasn't much to see. Closed doors and those beautiful fluorescent lights – _would she ever get used to them?_ She passed one door in particular and the sad singing filled her head once again, louder than before. She stopped in her tracks and impulsively reached towards the knob before the guard shoved her roughly ahead of him, causing her to stumble straight into Lucy who had stopped in front of another door. Lucy made a noise of surprise and disgust and shoved her away before opening the door.

"Go on, go shower, and don't expect me to wash your hair," she said with contempt.

It had been awkward at first, disrobing in front of this strange woman but she did it and as soon as she stepped under the hot water all thoughts of modesty left her. She was sure she had never experienced a shower quite like it and she felt like a new woman afterwards.

Lucy oversaw the drying and styling of her hair and the application of makeup. She was afraid that Lucy may stab her in the eye with the mascara brush but she didn't. Most likely the only thing stopping her was fear of the Master but this thought was small comfort to her as she tried to remain a still as possible. Despite Lucy's obvious hatred of her, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the woman. She was able to get a good look at the bruise on her cheek as she underwent the makeup process and could see another bruise on her collar bone, covered partially by her black dress. Life with the Master, it seemed, wasn't easy on anybody.

Once the hair and makeup process was finished they returned to her tiny room where she was made to change into the dress, thankfully without the guard present.

"The Master _likes_ red," Lucy murmured as she zipped up the back. She began sliding a string of black pearls around her neck when suddenly Lucy tightened them, forcing her back against Lucy's chest. "Now you listen to me, bitch, "Lucy spat, and she could feel Lucy's heart beating as fast as hers was. "Harry- The Master- is _mine. _I have nothing left in this life except for him and I intend to keep him as long as I need him for. Neither you, nor anybody else is going to come between us, you hear me?" Lucy punctuated her words with sharp tugs to the necklace.

She gasped for breath and thrust the void back to wherever it came from. She wasn't in true danger from this damaged woman; she didn't need any power except that of kindness. She nodded as best she could in her position and Lucy released her, fixing the closure of the necklace as if nothing had happened.

"Good girl. Watch yourself and maybe I won't have to kill you after all. Then again, _he _will probably be forced to do it. Now _that _would be poetic indeed." With this, Lucy began to laugh uproariously, things seemed to be _very_ funny today, and she left the room without another look back. The guard, however, did look at her one more time as she stood there in the ridiculous dress, and she thought she saw pity in his eyes before he left the room. _Pity towards somebody headed to the gallows maybe, _she thought and sighed, smoothing the silky red material over her thighs. She hadn't had access to a mirror but she suspected that she looked like a harlot.

"_Help us…"_

_I will, _she sent back, and began to pace.

_~DW~_

Eager to escape the tiny room and to get on with her rescue mission of the unknown person she had paced and paced once the guard had left. Nanoseconds turned to minutes, minutes to hours. Now she lay on the bed, fondling a section of the soft material between her fingers. A ripple of anxiety and anger came through her mind a split second before ear piercing alarms began to sound. She shot to her feet and went to the door, testing the handle even though she knew it would be locked. The alarms continued for two or three minutes _two minutes fifty-three seconds_ and then shut off, leaving her ears ringing. The silence was oppressive.

She was about to lie back down on the bed when the keypad quickly beeped its sequence and the door flew open. Four guards charged into the room and she backed against the wall, calling the power to her. It came and she could feel it coursing through her body, condensing in her fingertips. Her peripheral vision became clouded with gold and the song of the void filled her head.

"Oh no you don't," one of the guards barked and then, to her horror, three silver orbs came soaring into the room. Those orbs haunted her nightmares since she had been on this ship. They had been the things that had met her on the beach. The memory flashed before her eyes and then it was gone. Her mind struggled to recall it but everything she thought of disappeared as soon as it was remembered, leaving only cold fear.

"Our Master wishes for you to attend," one of them said, she was unsure of which, in its tinny, child-like voice.

"Yes! Our Master told us that if you did not obey we were to go find somebody from your past and…destroy them," another said gleefully, as if it hoped she would resist.

She wanted to fight; she knew she could take out the four humans and the three orbs if she tried but…but the threat. Despite her ridiculously crippled memory she knew she was not the type of person to allow people to die for her.

_I am the one that dies for them_; she thought sadly and knew it was true.

She also knew the Master's threat was not an idle one. If nothing else, she knew that he would, and could, do exactly as he had said. With a shuddering breath that threatened tears, she forced the void away from her and felt the power dissipate leaving her hollow, sad, and defeated.

Two guards rushed forward and placed themselves on either side of her, gripping her bare arms so tightly there were bound to be bruises. The metal orbs flew out of the room and down the hall to the right, they followed, one guard in front, then her and her two escorts, then one bringing up the rear. At the end of the hall an elevator was called and all eight of them entered it.

She was determined to keep her head up, to keep her pride even when she couldn't have her freedom, but a small part of her wanted to lie down and give up. She would not listen to that small part. She had to protect the loved ones that she could not remember. She had to save the source of that sad voice that was calling to her even now.

"_Save us…"_

"_I'm coming…"_

The elevator ride was short and with each second her heart picked up until it was galloping wildly in her chest. Fear made her hands clammy but she was also sensing the fear around her, and not just in the elevator. Fear, anger, and despair emanated from all directions, multiplying as time went on.

She wished she could focus just on her own emotions but the barriers that the Master had placed in her mind were being overridden and the voices that she had been overwhelmed by days before began to intrude into her thoughts making it difficult to focus on any one thing. Hundreds were crying out for help now.

She squeezed her eyes shut and willed the voices to still, to leave her for just a moment but, if anything, they became louder and more numerous. Gold began to fill her vision again. It was too much. Pain exploded around her and she tried to slump down to the ground, held up only by the two guards holding her arms.

_Be quiet be _quietbequietbequiet she chanted in her head, to no avail. Pain so much pain. Her own, from others - sadness, destruction…her human brain was being overloaded. She needed the Master to quiet her mind again. She allowed the void to take her but this time she gave control over completely. And then the pain was gone. She regained her feet and put her shoulders back. She wasn't in control anymore and that was okay.

She barely registered the motion of the elevator ceasing, or the doors sliding open.

She wasn't aware of the gloved hand shoving her out into the room.

Everything was so clear now.

She wasn't afraid anymore.

She was the Bad Wolf.

She surveyed the room with disconnected interest. The scene was tense to be sure.

There were more guards throughout the room accompanied by members of the crew. It was a large room, taken up mostly by a long conference table. Stairs led upwards to the ship's controls. The silver orbs flew ahead of her and danced around the Master who stared at her with hungry, triumphant eyes.

Her gaze fell upon an ancient man who was hunched in a wheelchair behind the Master. From a place where her human brain lived, a high pitched keening began, but she shut it off immediately. The Bad Wolf had no time for human sentimentality. The Master abused one and all, women, children, the elderly, no one was safe.

Lucy stood a little ways away from her husband, now dressed in red, blazing hatred coursing out of every part of her body. The Bad Wolf could see all.

No one spoke a word. The room was silent.

Then the silence was broken.

"Rose…" the old man choked out, his voice raspy. She could sense overpowering sadness emanating from his contorted form.

Her eyes snapped over to him and she examined him. She could see his timeline stretch back farther than anyone else's in the room, well, except for the Master's. He was hunched in a red wheelchair, dressed in a shabby brown pinstriped suit, age spots dotting his hands, face, and balding head. Tears were now leaking out of his eyes, following the course of his wrinkles. She tilted her head slightly, intrigued. She didn't notice as the Master's face darkened from triumph to seething rage as he watched them.

_Rose?_ She asked herself.

"_Rose Tyler…" _ the other voice, the sad voice said, sending with it waves of relief and images of a young, happy blonde girl.

She did notice a gnawing sensation coming from a part of her mind that she had forgotten existed, where her human mind had retreated to only moments before, allowing Bad Wolf to step forward and into control. Now her suppressed memories were hammering away at the barriers that the Master had put up, that the Bad Wolf had inadvertently put up.

They screamed for attention and she was about to turn to them when the Master kicked one leg out backward, pushing the wheelchair away. His smile had returned and he strode towards her, hands outstretched. Her eye contact with the old man was broken and she squared herself to face the Master.

"Oh my dear," he said, grinning. "You look simply _ravishing. _ Red is certainly your color." He reached out and took one limp hand, raising it above her head and forcing her to twirl for him. When she came back around to face him, a glare was planted firmly upon her face.

"You will cease this, Master. You will free those you have enslaved and end this paradox," she said, her voice sounding ethereal, as if many voices at once were emanating from her mouth. Anger flashed so quickly across his face she wouldn't have been sure if it had been there at all if it weren't accompanied by a wave of rage through their mental connection.

"Hmm…" he tapped one finger against his chin as if considering. "She says we must stop this, my children, my Toclafane. That I have enslaved people?" he turned to face the three hovering orbs, "What do you think?"

_Toclafane! _She thought, glad to put a name to those monstrosities.

"The Master may do whatever he pleases. Our Master is good and will create a better world for all of us," one of the Toclafane piped up. She saw a couple of the guards shift nervously. Lucy was unreadable, gazing blankly at her husband. She couldn't see the old man.

"Yes! He will save humanity as he saved us!" another said and they began to babble as animatedly as metal spheres could, chortling away happily about the new world.

"Quiet, children," the Master said, and they obeyed. He turned to face the room, considering each and every person in it. "As much as I wanted to debut my new…" he turned quickly to face her.

"What should I call you, anyway? I already have a _wife,"_ he said wife as if it were mildly repulsive to him and she saw Lucy cringe and glare. "So what does that make you? What do you think, Doctor?"

The Master circled her, trailing one finger up her bare arm, tracing the edge of the dress's low back. He paused behind her, wrapping a hand softly around her neck, tilting her face and kissing her on the cheek. She remained impassive, hiding the revulsion that her human mind felt. The Bad Wolf felt little except outrage at the paradox and the suffering she could feel all around her.

She could see the old man now, still hunched in his chair, his face mirroring her own. However, when the Master kissed her, the old man's hands shot to the armrests and he began to rise, shakily. His face was clouded with dark anger.

The Master, unaware of all of this inner turmoil continued, "Is she my mistress? Oh how deliciously cliché. No, she is much more than that. My secret weapon, yes, but also my equal. The Queen of my new Empire of Time. The Big Bad Wolf and the Master. My new _favorite _fairytale." His madness was growing with every word, whirling about, words becoming more impassioned. Throughout all of this she stayed stock still, energy coursing just below the surface of her skin.

"But now, as gorgeous as she is, her debut isn't the only reason I have all of you here. I haven't forgotten the crimes of the Jones family, and no crime goes unpunished in my empire. I have another message to send, this time to Martha Jones."

**A/N: Okay so I really didn't want to do another cliffhanger but this chapter was getting ridiculously long. So here's the deal. I have another chapter all written up and I shall post as soon as I get 15 reviews. This is the only time I shall bribe reviews from you (well, probably the only time) and I promise it will be worth it. So go on, type something in that little box below and make the happiest little fan fiction author in the realm. I adore you all! P.S. who's counting down for the Christmas Special? SO excited ^_^ **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: You guys are so, so fabulous! And fantastic ^_^ I promised you the next chapter as soon as I got 15 reviews and now I've exceeded that thanks to Artemis's best Huntress, LadaHathaway, JollyRoger1, Cassie, SittingOnTheEdgeOfTheUnivers e, Heart of Diamond, MyrninsBitch, aeonian, fantasticvoyage6, BlueDragonRising, Amelia , Jessiexyz, PrincessJenna89, ignitedsoul, Bad Wolf, Scififan2005, an anonymous guest, GeekChic13, SinginginThirds, and DreamIntoThOcean. **

**I was intending to post as soon as I hit 15…buuut then I went to bed and poof! You guys rocked it so I am taking time before work (I shall probably be late - worth it) to post Chapter 7 for all of you. Enjoy!**

The Doctor, for once in his life, was speechless. In all of his dreams, all of his nightmares, this had never been a realistic possibility. Once he had said that he liked the impossible…but not this time. Standing before him was Rose, but not _his _Rose.

She was dressed in a crimson dress that fell to the floor, accentuating every curve of her body as it went. She was thinner than the last time he had seen her, with more defined muscles in her arms. The dress was strapless and plunged down her back exposing more of her than he had ever seen. Her hair was pinned up in soft waves and her makeup was dark and catlike. His eyes were drawn to her mouth which was as red as her dress.

He had truly never thought that he would see her again.

And now he knew who the consciousness had belonged to all along. It had felt familiar but he could never place it because this was never an option. All this time, it was _her_ fear and anger he was feeling. _Her_ pain. His stomach roiled and cold fury settled in. The Master was speaking but he could barely hear his words. Her eyes were upon him and she was looking at him as if he were a puzzle that she was trying to solve. Realization dawned on him and his hearts broke all over again

She didn't know him.

He was finding it hard to breathe, but his mind wasn't racing. It was standing still so he heard her words when she spoke.

"You will cease this, Master. You will free those you have enslaved and end this paradox."

A memory came to him then, _the_ memory, and suddenly he was back on Satellite 5, big ears, leather jacket and all, images of her flashing before his eyes.

"I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I take the words I scatter them in time and space. A message to lead myself here."

_flash_

"I want you safe, my Doctor. To protect you from the false god."

_flash_

"You are tiny I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence and I divide them. Everything must come to dust…all things everything dies. The Time War ends."

_flash_

"How can I let go of this? I bring life. The sun and the moon the day and night…but why do they hurt? I can see everything, all that is…all that was…all that ever could be."

The process of how this came to be finally connected in his mind. He had been such a fool to think that he could take the Vortex all of the way out of her. His beautiful, mortal Rose. What had he done to her? She had absorbed the Vortex to protect him. He, so unworthy of her sacrifice, so unworthy of her love.

And he did blame himself. Not the Master. He, the _Doctor,_ who was supposed _help _people, but all he ever did was destroy. Rose, here. Martha out there.

The Doctor couldn't take his eyes off of Rose, the Bad Wolf, who stood there radiating power. No longer was her timeline a thin, short line going back only twenty years. That one was still there, yes, but it was now intertwined with a thick, golden line that went back farther than he could readily imagine, and farther into the future than he ever could have hoped.

Rose had merged with the Bad Wolf.

And she didn't remember him.

He didn't realize that he was crying until two tears splashed onto his clasped hands.

The Master was circling her now. _Touching her._ A feeling that he hadn't felt since Jack had traveled with them surged through him. Jealously. Time Lords did not feel jealousy. But this one did. Always jealousy when Rose and another man were concerned.

He watched as the Master stood behind her, taunting, "Is she my mistress? Oh how deliciously cliché. No, she is much more than that. My secret weapon, yes, but also my equal. The Queen of my new Empire of Time. The Big Bad Wolf and the Master. My new _favorite _fairytale."

One of his hands encircled her neck pulling her head towards him. And kissed her cheek.

Throughout all of this she was staring at the Doctor, her face a blank mask. Did she understand what was going on inside of him? Of course she didn't. Even if she were Rose she wouldn't understand because he had been too much of a coward to ever tell her how he felt. Time Lords did not fall in love. They most certainly did not fall in love with human girls. But this one had.

He could stand this no longer. Rose was _his! _She would probably kill him to hear him say that but that is how he felt about her. She was his and he was hers.

Almost against his will, his hands shot out and gripped the armrests of the loathsome chair. He mustered all of his strength, ignoring his screaming joints. He shakily got to his feet. He may be old. He may be weak. He may be one step from dead. But he _would_ die before he ever let the Master own his Rose, Bad Wolf or no Bad Wolf. Even if she never remembered who he was.

The Doctor tried to open a telepathic link between himself and Rose but she was closed off. His mind reached a golden door that he recognized as the Bad Wolf, which he could breach, but beyond that there was a steel slab of power blocking him off from her. The Master. He was consciously blocking the Doctor from Rose and also blocking her memories. This gave him a shred of hope, and he needed all the hope he could get.

The Master turned to face him and addressed the whole room, "But now, as gorgeous as she is, her debut isn't the only reason I have all of you here. I haven't forgotten the crimes of the Jones family, and no crime goes unpunished in my empire. I have another message to send, this time to Martha Jones."

He strode past Rose, who remained motionless, and approached the Doctor. Almost without looking he pushed the Doctor straight back into his chair. The Doctor landed with a _thump_, his whole body on fire with pain. The Master wheeled him over and stopped in front of the camera setup in the corner.

He turned them on and the Doctor knew that the transmission was broadcasting all over the world. The Master couldn't resist an international audience.

"My people, salutations on this, the eve of war. Lovely woman, but I know there's all sorts of whispers down there, stories of a child walking the earth, giving you hope. But I ask you, how much hope has this man got?" With this he wheeled the Doctor over in front of the cameras and stood behind him, "Say hello Gandalf." The Doctor, of course, did no such thing. The Master continued, "Except he's not _that_ old, but he _is_ an alien. With a much greater lifespan than you stunted little apes. What if it showed? What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate?"

He was facing the Doctor now, laser screwdriver at the ready. Despite himself, cold fear snaked through the Doctor. He could feel the Master now. All shred of sanity was gone, replaced by the madness that the drums had driven him to. They had dueled in the past, yes. All throughout his regenerations, but this time was different.

"All 900 years of your life, Doctor - what if we could see them?" The Doctor had a split second in which he realized what was going to happen but he wasn't quick enough. The Master aimed his screwdriver at the Doctor and shot him with power. Immediately, searing pain and utter chaos ensued throughout his body. He shook and writhed, screamed.

He couldn't see that Rose lunged forward to defend him. She still did not know who he was but even as Bad Wolf, her compassion, her _humanity_ could not allow this to happen. Something at the back of her mind was screaming, ceaselessly screaming. She was restrained by two guards and two Toclafane flew over, blades extended. She did not care.

Immediately power surged through her, knocking the guards halfway across the room. She disintegrated the two Toclafane into a cloud of golden dust. A bullet grazed her shoulder but she barely felt it. She was about to turn on the Master – but she was too late. He was done now and all that was left of the old man known as the Doctor was a pile of his raggedy brown clothes. All was silent on deck.

"Doctor?" the Master called, standing above the pile. Nobody dared move or speak, to even breathe. The Master cracked his neck from side to and then rubbed his face, all traces of his former glee gone. She could feel…something through the telepathic connection she held with him. He was…scared? Could that be possible?

The Master crouched down over the pile of clothes and suddenly movement came from inside. With bated breath they watched as a tiny creature poked its head out of the neck hole of the suit. It was slightly grotesque, with brown blotchy skin, wisps of hair, and huge, oversized eyes set in a head much too big for its body.

The Bad Wolf knew what had happened. A being too ancient to live one lifespan, forced to show 900 years of aging. How the Master had achieved it, she did not know, but here it was. This was what was left of the Doctor. Blood streamed down her arm from the shallow cut on her shoulder, dripping off her fingertips and onto the floor. Her power was still within reach but she did not know what to do with it now. Nobody knew what to do now.

The Master stood up, his expression was childlike, surprise, disgust, and a tiny bit of self-satisfaction all mingled together. Yet the Bad Wolf could feel his relief. Relief that the Doctor was still alive. Even after all of this, he still wanted him alive. He smirked and approached the camera, getting in close as he said, "Received and understood, Miss Jones?"

Cameras shut off, the Master gestured for a guard. He muttered something to the man who immediately ran off.

The Master whirled to face her, rage evident on his face. "Don't think that I didn't see your little act of rebellion, girl," he spat.

"What you have done is unforgivable," she said. "You will be made to pay. You will be stopped."

She heard the clicking of heels behind her and then Lucy was as her husband's side, her arm hooked through his. He looked at his wife with a slight look of disgust and shook her off. Her face looked as if he had slapped her.

The Master approached the Bad Wolf, trailing a finger down her bloody arm. He idly traced loops and circles in her blood that she recognized as Gallifreyan symbols. "You killed two of my children, little wolf," he said quietly, continuing his finger painting with her blood. "It is _you _who will be made to pay."

She lunged for him then, power ready, but he deflected her attack, somehow. He was still more powerful, more trained. More ruthless. She tripped slightly over the hem of her dress and had to support herself on the railing of the staircase. He was upon her before she could react, hands encircling her skull and he thrust the Bad Wolf back into the recesses of her mind, drawing forward the less powerful human part.

She took a shuddering breath and crumpled to the floor. This was not as it should be. Where was her power? There were more barricades in her mind now. She could feel them, kept running up against them as she struggled to regain the power and energy she had controlled only moments ago. He looked down upon her with satisfaction and turned towards the guard who was returning with a large birdcage.

_Where in the world did that come from?_ She asked herself, idly, strange, exhausted giddiness sweeping through her.

The Master gestured for another guard to get the creature that had once been the Doctor as the other guard hung the cage. The Master and Lucy went to the elevator, and four guards came to lift her up. She saw the guard put the tiny creature in the cage. It gripped the bars and stared at her forlornly. Only at her. She felt a tickle at the back of her mind but the Master's barricades blocked whatever it was. She was so weak now. Having all of her power taken from her body so quickly had ravaged her, leaving her exhausted and powerless to resist the guards as they hoisted her off of her feet and into the elevator with the Master and Lucy.

She kept slipping in and out of consciousness as the elevator descended and when the doors opened she saw that they were in the engine room. It was dark and steam rose from various points. The Master and Lucy led the way as they navigated the metal catwalks and soon she was lost. She was so tired that she stopped trying to walk and one of the guards shifted her into his arms, carrying her bride-style. Her head lolled and she fought to stay awake a little longer.

She finally felt their movement stopped and peeled her eyes open. There was a man hanging from chains that stretched from each limb, dark hair plastered to his head with sweat, dirt streaking his clothes and body. There were holes in his white shirt that looked suspiciously like bullet holes. His head was down but she could feel that he was awake.

And sad.

And _very_ angry.

He ignored them as she was made to stand up, and she barely registered the cold metal that was being clamped around her wrists and ankles. She slumped against the wrist restraints, the metal digging into her tender flesh, causing the wound on her arm to flare up in pain. More blood trickled down, this time down onto her neck and shoulders, but she was finding it hard to care. She could hear and feel the chains being tightened so that she was entirely spread eagled across the walkway, unable to move, facing the other prisoner.

Her head lolled to the side and she felt the Master plant a kiss on the exposed flesh of her neck.

"Sweet dreams, my beauty," he whispered in her ear. Her skin rippled in goose bumps and her mind screamed in revulsion but her energy was leaving her fast.

She heard footsteps as the Master and Lucy left them, leaving her and the other prisoner with two guards. Her eyes were becoming heavier by the minute but she was determined to stay awake as long as possible. Chains rattled as the suspended man shifted.

She heard a choked gasp and lifted her head slowly to look at him through locks of her long, blonde hair.

His expression was a mask of shock and horror.

"Rose?!"

**A/N: Hehehe! I'm really getting into this story now that the introductory stuff is done. I hope this isn't too cliffhangery…if it was it was an unintentional one and I shall run and hide from your outrage _ But Jack finally sees Rose! Chaos will ensue! Doctor and Rose snogging will happen! But only if you review! Exclamation points! Yes, ahem, anyway, I apologize for that, I am awfully tired and have quite a bit of Dayquil in my system as I have a bad cold. Dayquil=silly me. I have said it before and I will say it again, you guys are simply the best and I will be posting very soon. Sooner if we can break 80 reviews. That would just be something special :D I know, I bribe you, it's a vice of mine, but it's only fair, right? Adoration and cupcakes upon all of you, my lovely readers. Xx- Lady Ten**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Who had two thumbs and the best reviewers in the world? This girl! Thank you to SittingOnTheEdgeOfTheUnivers e, LadaHathaway, PrincessJenna89, JollyRoger1, DreamIntoTheOcean, MyrninsBitch, Heart of Diamond, RoseKatnissWeasley7, , fantasticvoyage6, ignitedsoul, Amelia , BarefootBeachBum (who hates me but I hope will forgive me when I unleash the fluff), an anonymous guest, PirategirlRobin, and DislikeBangel for your fantastic, fabulous, wonderful reviews! I love that you all are loving this story so much because I do too! I am watching Classic Who right now - they just put it on Netflix. It's very silly but I adore it all the same. This chapter was so fun to write. There are some Torchwood references by the way :] Enjoy and review!**

Captain Jack Harkness had been in some tight spots, but this one had to be the tightest. When he first discovered that death just wasn't in the cards for him, he had kept track, made a little mental note of the how, the why - the general details of his demise. Because, really, who could forget one's own death? He hadn't realized that he actually _had_ forgotten some of the less memorable ones until after the…fiftieth time? The eightieth? Who could say? All Captain Jack Harkness knew for certain was that dying was a bitch.

He had been shot, he had been stabbed, he had been poisoned, broken, crushed, smothered, dismembered, hanged, suffocated, electrocuted, incinerated, starved, drowned…the ways the universe thought of to kill him were endless. But the universe had _nothin'_ on the Master.

It hadn't taken long for that Time Lord sociopath to get down to testing Jack's ability to heal himself. Taking over the world and killing one tenth of its population could only provide so much entertainment. The Master needed more. Jack had been strung up in the bowels of the _Valiant_ for longer than he could keep track. He knew it had been at least nine months, maybe more, but it seemed like an eternity.

Never one for staying in one place – for living a simple life, Jack was _bored_. Not only did he die at least five times a week, but there weren't even any attractive people around to scandalize. He always had, had an easygoing temperament. He was the one that laughed in the face of danger, literally, and could lighten even the direst of situation. It wasn't for lack of trying that his time spent on this godforsaken ship was just plain dull. The Master only seemed to employ guards who had the sense of humor of rocks. But rocks were probably funnier.

Still, he tried. Couldn't blame a man for trying, right?

He spent most of his time alone, well, as alone as he could be with his two ever-present armed and seemingly mute guards standing watch by him. And so he spent his time with his Torchwood team, especially Ianto and Gwen. Man, he missed Ianto. He hoped that they were doing alright, that the Master's wild goose chase into the Himalayas hadn't been a perilous one, but he suspected that the Master would waste no time in gloating over their demise if it had come to pass.

He bet Gwen had taken control of Torchwood, which was good. She was a good leader and a great person. The best sort of person. So human. She reminded him of Rose, and at times he would catch himself confusing the two. He had met so many people in his impossibly long life, but only one Rose and one Gwen. The Doctor had filled him in on what had happened to Rose and Jack's heart had broken.

After he had been abandoned on Satellite 5 on that fateful day he had lived with only one purpose - to find the Doctor and Rose. He had seen many Doctor's over the years, old, young, tall, short, grumpy, jolly, some relatively fashionable and some with questionable fashion sense (seriously who wears celery as an accessory?) but none of them were _his _ Doctor.

He had travelled all over the world, one mission after another with one Torchwood after another seeing and doing things that he would rather forget. Some things still gave him nightmares and he would still wake, sweating and hyperventilating from dreams about children being sent off into the light. He wasn't the best sort of person, but he did try to do the right thing. Sometimes you were left stuck with deciding which decision would send you to hell faster. _If I ever get to hell_ he often thought.

Some of the best, and saddest, days of his life were spent watching Rose Tyler grow up. He had thought about it over the years, keeping a hidden mental countdown until the day of her birth. He had tried to resist, really he had, but the temptation to see her again was too much. She was responsible for making him a better person, and he found himself taking into consideration what she would do, before acting in morally grey situations.

So he went to London and he found her.

The first time he had seen her she had been a baby. Jackie Tyler was pushing a stroller out of the entrance to the Powell Estates on a spring morning when Jack "just happened" to walk by. Jackie was unmistakably Rose's mother; he would have spotted her a mile off. She had looked up at him suspiciously at first, as he walked a little too close to them but his most charming smile had soon left a flirtatious one on hers. He had stealthily looked down at the baby in the carriage. The five month old Rose Tyler was swaddled in pink blankets, drooling all over one of her fists and she had looked up at him and smiled. She held no sign of the fearsome, beautiful (curvaceous) woman she would become but she had extracted her hand from her mouth and grinned a big gummy grin at him.

The moment was so brief but Jack would never forget it. He knew that she couldn't possibly sense what they would become to each other, best friends, saviors, but part of his mind didn't doubt that, even as an infant, Rose Tyler was something special.

The years went by and Jack stayed close, but not close enough that Rose or, more importantly, Jackie would ever see him. He had seen Jackie departing her home, dressed in black for her husband's funeral, mascara already running down her cheeks as a relative carried baby Rose to a waiting car.

He had seen Rose on her first day of school, pink dress (what else?) and tiny backpack, escorted to school by her mum.

Yes, Jack had stood watch over Rose for many years, finally forced to leave on Torchwood business when she was fifteen years old, already showing signs of the woman she would become. He had gotten so close, so many times, especially as she became a teenager, to talking to her but he knew he shouldn't, that he couldn't. But it had been terribly hard.

And then this new and manic Doctor, all pinstripes and spiky hair, had appeared, dragged him to the literal end of the universe, and proceeded to tell him that Rose was gone. Forever.

And now he was here, chained spread eagled in the hot and humid depths of a former government airship with only his memories to keep him company.

Well, his memories and the Master.

The Master had quickly come to depend on his human punching bag, taking out his sadistic impulses on Jack's immortal body whenever he became too enraged to be around his wife or minions. Heaven forbid he might kill somebody that he still needed! Sometimes the Master would do it himself, sometimes he would make other people do it as he watched - the end results were always the same for Jack. He would die, always painfully. There would be nothing, and then he would gasp his way back into this endless life, met by the Master's expectant and gleefully mad face.

Oh how Jack longed to beat the living hell out of that face. Beat it until there was nothing left, wait for him to regenerate, and then do it all over again.

As dismal and seemingly hopeless as his time chained down here had seemed, not all the time was wasted. It had begun slowly, fearfully. First, mere glances. Then a whispered word or two. It was agonizingly slow but the Jones family had really pulled through. Plans were made, signals set. Jack waited every waking moment of every day for a member of the Jones family to come down and see him. Sometimes Tish brought him food. Sometimes Martha's dad, Clive, worked on machinery near him. Francine even made an appearance a dozen times or so.

Not knowing what was going on above deck and around the world was killing him more surely than the Master could ever hope to achieve. He had no news of the Doctor, only that he was living in squalor as the old man that Jack had last seen. He was _dying_ for information about his team. If he knew them at all, however, they were out saving the world, one crisis at a time.

He hoped Ianto was okay. Their reunion was certain to be a sweet one…

His fantasies were interrupted by the sound of light footsteps on the metal catwalk. His heart leapt when he saw Tish materialize out of the steam from the engines bearing his tray of food. It seemed the Master had decided to feed him today. A guard opened the gate to his section of the walkway and Tish came in, her face impassive as always.

"Mornin' Tish!" Jack exclaimed, inhaling exaggeratedly. "Ah, smell that sea air! Makes me long for good old British ffffish and chips." He cackled as she passed and set the tray down behind him. "Yeah, what do I get? Cold mash swede – some hotel. Last time I book over the internet!" Tish walked around to face him holding a bowl and a spoon, preparing to spoon feed him. Under normal circumstances Jack thought he might enjoy being trussed up and having a pretty girl feed him, but these circumstances were anything but normal.

She held out a spoonful of inevitably nasty glop and, despite himself, he shot his head out and gobbled it up. He didn't really remember the last time he had been fed. The Master tended to forget about things like that.

His heart sped up when he saw Tish place the first three fingers of her left hand on the edge of the bowl.

_Finally!_ He exclaimed silently and worked hard to swallow the bite of tasteless food. He winked at her and she continued feeding him until the bowl was empty. She left without saying a word. No words were necessary.

Jack knew the guards changed at quarter to three. It was agony waiting until then but, sure enough, at 2:45 on the dot his guards walked off leaving him alone for a blessed fifteen minutes.

As soon as they were out of earshot Jack began pulling. He had been working on the restraints for months, pulling and pulling during his fifteen minutes alone. He knew the bolts were weakening, he just had to pull a little harder than usual and they may come free. They had to come free.

The cuffs broke the skin on his wrists and made his bones grind against one another as he threw all of his strength into pulling. There was a moment when he thought they were too secure. That he would fail to uphold his end of the mission. With a final roar of pain and effort they came free, right as his guards were coming back. One of the chains dislodged the pipe it was wrapped around, spraying a guard in the face with boiling steam. An alarm began to sound as electrical sparks flew from another area. That had to be Clive.

Jack grabbed the pipe and sprayed the other guard who fell to the ground, clutching his burned face. Jack wasted no time in snatching up the man's fallen rifle and running for his life, attempting to navigate the twists and turns of the ship. He thought that he had made it when he turned a corner and skidded to a stop.

His heart sank.

Blocking his escape route was five of the Master's guards. They cocked and aimed their rifles directly at him, faces cold and set.

Jack dropped his gun which fell against his front, suspended from a strap, and squared his shoulders, prepared for what he knew would happen next.

"Oh, here we go again," he said, holding his arms out to either side and tilting his face back. His last thought before he felt the first bullet rip through his body was _I'm sorry._ Then everything went black.

Jack awoke with a desperate gasp and knew immediately where he was. He could tell by the numbness and ache in his arms that he was back in his prison of cuffs and chains and had been hanging there for a while. Some deaths took longer to recover from than others and he suspected that those five guards had emptied their entire clips into his body.

Groaning with pain, he set first one foot, then the other underneath him and shakily stood up. He could feel the blood trickling back into his arms in a wave of pins and needles. Jack couldn't believe that he had failed. From the looks of things though, everyone had failed. Bitter disappointment flooded him. Would they ever get another chance like this? Not likely, knowing the Master.

Jack wondered what had happened to the Jones family. To the Doctor. Were they okay? He was contemplating this when the monitor near his head hissed to life revealing a grainy black and white image of the Master.

"My people, salutations on this, the eve of war. Lovely woman, but I know there's all sorts of whispers down there, stories of a child walking the earth, giving you hope. But I ask you, how much hope has this man got? Say hello Gandalf," the Master's cool public speaking voice made Jack clench his teeth in anger and he thought his teeth might just shatter when the Doctor came in to view. Jack had forgotten just how old and decrepit the Master had made him. No longer was he a bouncing ball of rambling mania. Gone was his young (pretty) face. The old man that stared into the camera was a stranger, just a shadow of his former self. Sadness was etched into each deep line of his face.

The Master continued, "Except he's not _that_ old, but he _is_ an alien. With a much greater lifespan than you stunted little apes. What if it showed? What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate?" Fear now worked its way through Jack. He knew, maybe better than anybody, what sort of cruelty that insane alien was capable of. The Doctor also was somewhat immortal, not like Jack of course, but he had more lives than anyone else the Master had on retainer.

Aiming the screwdriver, the Master turned to the Doctor and said, "All 900 years of your life, Doctor - what if we could see them?" With that, a beam of energy shot from the screwdriver, right at the Doctor. The old man began to seize and convulse, body contorting in ways that made Jack cringe. But he didn't look away. He owned the Doctor that much.

The sick twisting of the Doctor's body continued so long that Jack thought he must surely die from it.

"Older…and older," the Master said, not letting up on the torture. "Down you go, Doctor. Down…down…down the years." Soon the Doctor fell from his chair, still seizing on the floor, becoming a blur on the screen. Jack's stomach twisted and he felt sick but still he did not look away. Finally, the Master stopped. The Doctor was nowhere in sight.

"Doctor?" the Master questioned, circling a spot on the floor that was just out of sight of the camera. Jack could see other people in the background, particularly the Master's wife, Lucy. There was a commotion, a blur, and a flash of light just barely out of the camera's view which ceased when the Master did. Maybe somebody was still fighting.

There was silence on the screen as the Master bent to examine whatever was on the floor. Jack couldn't breathe, eyes glued to the screen, not daring to blink. The cameras shifted, tilting down to reveal a pile of clothes on the floor. The Doctor's clothes. Empty.

Jack was in shock, and was about to let out a sob of grief when something in the pile moved.

_What the..._ Jack said, silently as a creature poked its head out. The head was huge, oversized, with giant saucer-like eyes that looked up forlornly. Was this…the Doctor?

The camera view shifted back up and the Master smirked and approached it. He got in close and said, "Received and understood, Miss Jones?" The camera hissed into static, the picture gone.

Jack was in shock. In all of his travels, in all of the time he had spent wandering the universe…he had never seen _anything_ like this. What had the Master done to the Doctor? _Was_ that even the Doctor? A part of him was relieved but for the majority he felt overcome by grief. The Doctor was their only hope of salvation and now he was…he was…whatever that thing had been. Was there any chance left now?

Exhausted from his death and from the oppressive hopelessness he now felt, Jack slumped down, letting the chains support him. He didn't care if they cut off his circulation. He didn't care about anything. He had failed.

Jack didn't look up when, awhile later, he heard multiple footsteps approach. He couldn't bring himself to care what happened next. What good did hope do when it all turned out like this? When evil really did win?

He didn't lift his head when the gate opened. He kept his eyes shut as another set of shackles rattled across from him. He heard that bastard, the Master whisper something to somebody and then the group walked away without another word. Chains rattled and he heard a whimper.

Despite himself and overcome by curiosity, Jack lifted his head. He saw the hem of a red satin dress, and slowly lifted his eyes, taking in dark spots that could only be blood. His eyes traveled up the slim body of a woman. His heart stopped. His breath caught in his throat.

No.

It couldn't possibly be.

Blonde hair fell free from an elaborate up-do, concealing the woman's hung head. He watched as she raised her head with great effort, and her dark eyes met his. The whole world stopped.

"Rose?!" he exclaimed. And it _was_ her. It couldn't be her…but it was. She looked so tired, beaten, with blood streaming down from a jagged cut on her shoulder. Her eyes were weary and lifeless and he could see it was taking a great deal of effort for her to keep them open. Her whole weight was supported by the chains connected to her arms.

It was Rose. Rose Tyler.

His eyes took in every inch of her, drinking her in. Every detail. Her hair was so long now, still bleach blonde. Black makeup rimmed her eyes and traced tear tracks down her cheeks. . She must have been living a different kind of life because her thin form was now lined with lean muscle. That dress concealed nothing - he suspected it had been the Master's choice.

There were purple circles under those dark hazel eyes that he had loved so much. Those eyes that filled with mirth at the slightest hint of humor, often when she was making fun of him or the Doctor or had blazed with fury when an injustice was being done in front of her. That had been so full of love every time she looked at that oblivious oaf of a Doctor. But now…now there was nothing in those eyes. No hint of recognition. Horror slowly came over him as he realized…she didn't know who he was.

He struggled in vain with his shackles, almost embracing the biting sting as they dug into his wrists and ankles. "Rosie?" he asked, timid for maybe the first time in his life. She gazed at him blankly and he knew she wouldn't be conscious for long. "Rosie, honey…its Jack. Captain Jack."

Still nothing.

"R-Rose?" she stammered weakly and then slumped down, losing consciousness. Jack pulled and pulled at his chains to no avail. The guard at the gate glared at him and Jack returned it tenfold, giving him both middle fingers. Rose's slumped form hung mere feet away from him and there was nothing that he could do about it. Nothing to do but stare at her.

Jack couldn't decide if he was happy or devastated to see her here. Of course, part of him felt selfish joy at being in the same dimension as his best friend once again…but how had she gotten here? What had awaited her when she did? What had the Master done to her? If he wasn't already and utterly determined to kill the Master in the slowest, cruelest manner possible, he was dead set on it now.

It was one thing to hurt him. He would recover. It was one thing even to sentence one tenth of the earth's population to death. But to hurt his Rose….Rose, who cared about everyone and anyone, who had never hurt anyone in her life. Rose, who would forgive just about anything - give a second chance to anyone. She had taken him, Captain Jack Harkness, a smarmy, dishonest, selfish, rogue Time Agent, and showed him once again what it was like to be human.

And so he waited, waited for her to awaken.

And waited.

Cold fear was beginning to take him over when he heard her breath become uneven. Her chains rattled slightly as she shifted and she let out a moan of pain. He knew what she must be feeling. How many times had he awoken like that, arms one step past dead, entire body aching. Her head rolled from side to side and her bare feet finally found their footing. _That bastard couldn't even give her shoes? _ He thought bitterly, but didn't take his eyes off of her stirring form.

Finally she raised her head and immediately met his gaze. He knew at once that she still didn't recognize him. He had to approach this situation with caution. In his decades with Torchwood he had seen the victims of various forms of amnesia. One wrong step and they could snap, confusion and fear destroying any trust that they managed to build with those trying to help them.

"H-hello," she said weakly, her voice raspy and faint.

Jack couldn't help himself, he smiled, _really_ smiled for the first time since he had been locked down here. No matter what the circumstances, he was so, so happy to see her.

"Hey," he said softly, carefully. He didn't know what had been done to her, but he had to treat her delicately.

"What happened…where am I?" she asked, rolling her wrists and wincing.

"You're on the _Valiant_, a U.N.I.T ship now under the control of a madman. But you may have already figured that last part out yourself," he said, some of his normal-self returning to his tone.

"The Master," Rose spat and Jack was surprised by the venom in her voice.

"Yes, the Master," Jack agreed. "Do you know how you got here?"

Rose squeezed her eyes shut and didn't say anything for a moment. Her lips were silently muttering something and he couldn't make out what. She looked like she was fighting something inside her head. Finally she snapped out of it and opened her eyes again.

"No…It seems 'm having a bit a' trouble remembering stuff lately," she gave a strange sort of smile and let her head flop to the side, hissing in pain as it came in contact with the gash on her shoulder. She tried to look at it but couldn't see at that angle so she looked back at him. "So…what'd you do to get down here?"

Jack was having a hard time playing this get-to-know-you game with a woman that he had once known so well. A part of him wanted to yell, "Rose! It's me! Jack! Don't you remember me? We used to fly around in time and space in a blue box called the TARDIS with an amazing man called the Doctor!" but he held his tongue. These situations could be fragile.

Instead he said, "Oh, this and that, a troublemaker, me." Rose raised an eyebrow at his cryptic response but returned his smile. "What about you?"

Again, she squeezed her eyes shut and her lips moved silently. When she finally opened her eyes he thought he caught a glimmer of gold in them, but it was gone before he could be sure. "'M not really sure. I just sort of…woke up in a room on this ship. Don't remember how I got here, don't even remember my name. That's the worst part, y'know. That I don't even know who I am," she paused and her gaze intensified. "Wait – did you call me…what did you call me…was it Rose? It was Rose, yeah? Do you know me? Y'know…from before…all this?"

She was staring at him with such hope, such expectation that Jack couldn't think of a tactful response so he went with the one that came to mind first, "Yes, yes I do know you, Rose Tyler. I know you very well."

**A/N: Okay…does that count as a cliffhanger? I might have a problem…but you guys secretly love the suspense, admit it. PLUS you can't be too mad at me because this is my third update in four days. I'm so good to you. If you are very good to me by reviewing I just may update again this week. 15 reviews? More? I'm not setting a baseline but I hope you review lots, because I really want to update! **

**P.S. Is there anybody out there going to Gallifrey One in February?**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: WOW! That's all I can say to the response I got from the last chapter. 109 reviews!? I could not be happier that you all love "my" Jack as much as I loved writing him! I probably shouldn't list everybody who reviewed chapter 8 because there were so, so many but you guys definitely deserve recognition so here it goes: **

**Thank you to casualmoose, JollyRoger1, Laura, Halle, OTHCharmfan, Amelia , SittingOnTheEdgeOfTheUnivers e, Pig-Rabbit, Suk, Heart of Diamond, ladyamadaun, Lyrander215, RoseKatnissWeasley7, huntress serena, PrincessJenna89, LadaHathaway, The Infamous Hogwarts Jaguar, Michelle, whiteicewolf, Chris4, Names Have Power, Drizzt Do'Urden, Frostfyre, hungrywhovianpotterhead, and a couple of anonymous guests for your AMAZING, STUPENDOUS reviews!**

**I'm really sorry I didn't update sooner but work and the holidays have me running around every second of every day. I finally was able to sit down for the past few hours and hammer the rest of this chapter out. It was hard, and I apologize if it was uneventful, but I promise there will be action, angst, romance (but not overkill Names Have Power) and everything else us Whovians luuuurve. On with the chapter!**

"When I first saw you, you were dangling from a barrage balloon during the London Blitz," Jack began. Rose was hanging in front of him, in her red dress that, in another situation Jack would be unable to resist making cheeky comments about. She wasn't _his_ Rose though. Not yet, and so he had to hold his tongue and start at the beginning of their story.

"You were wearing a tee-shirt with the Union Jack printed on it," he laughed at the memory and she chuckled a little at that as well. _At least she hasn't forgotten world history_ he thought sarcastically. It would have been so much easier if she had just forgotten that and not _her_ entire history - _their_ entire history. It wasn't as if the Doctor couldn't take her back to relive it all once they got out of this mess. Because they _were_ going to get out of this mess. He hoped.

"I had…acquired a Chula ship and had rigged it to accommodate me. Great ship that was – it could become invisible and everything. You sure got a kick out of that the first time. We had champagne and danced above London in the light of Big Ben on top of my invisible ship."

Rose spoke up hesitantly, "Were we…y'know…_involved?_" Jack gave a small bark of surprised laughter.

"No, Rose, you were…_involved_ with someone else and I think he would have ripped me limb from limb and scattered my parts in seven different galaxies if I had, had any real designs on you," Jack said, picturing the look on Ol' Big Ears' face when they had all first met, when Jack and Rose had been flirting. Any idiot could have seen that they were mad for each other. Except for those two particular idiots, of course.

Rose furrowed her eyebrows and got a strange look on her face. She shook her head, as if fighting off dizziness, and then the look was gone. "Go on," she urged, shifting in her shackles, asking none of the questions that Jack expected. _What is going on in that pretty head of yours, Rose?_ Jack asked silently but did as she asked.

"Back then I was a Time Agent turned con artist - basically your textbook scoundrel and knave," he said with a waggle of his eyebrows and saw the faintest of smiles upon Rose's lips at this…but no recognition.

"I assumed you were with the Time Agency and, clever girl you are, you played along and pretended you were. I was going to try to sell you this Chula ambulance that I had also…acquired. You see, the whole city was swarmed with nanogenes from the crashed ambulance that transformed people into these…things with gas masks literally growing out of their faces….the nanogenes thought they were healing them. They kept going on about their 'mummy'. Very creepy."

He paused again and examined her face for any sign that she remembered but her only expression was of a person listening to a rather good story.

Under his scrutiny she raised her eyebrows.

"None of this rings a bell?" he asked and she shook her head silently. He sighed and went on, deciding to bring out the big guns. The Doctor.

"You see…you were travelling with this man, a wonderful, completely mad man. He was called the Doctor," Jack mentally kicked himself for using the past tense but it had just come out.

"Wait-," Rose interrupted, "The Doctor? Like that old man out there that the Master had?" Jack nodded. "I…know him?" There was fear in her voice now and sadness.

The question made Jack's heart hurt and he had to take a moment before responding. "Yes, Rose, you knew – _know_, him." Jack didn't want to go too far, tell her too much for fear that he would give her too much to handle. By the expression on her face he might already have. Emotion after emotion was flickering across her features and she kept shaking her head in the same manner as before.

"Rose?" he asked softly. "Rosie, are you okay?" She looked back up at him and the conflict in her was gone.

"Yeah, yeah 'm fine," she replied.

"Then why are you crying?" he asked, and sure enough there was a tear drifting down her face, creating a trail through the blood and makeup on her face. Reflexively she tried to wipe it away only to be stopped by her handcuffs. The tear trailed down and settled in the corner of her mouth. Absentmindedly she poked her tongue out between her lips and licked the tear away.

"I-I don't know," she said and suddenly her eyes were so full of sadness and fear that Jack struggled against his bonds in order to reach her, to comfort her. His bonds held.

"Rosie, what did the Master do to you?" he asked gently. "What's happening inside of your head? Tell me."

Rose remained silent, considering, and another tear joined the first. Jack thought that maybe she wasn't going to speak and just as he was about to urge her more, she took a deep breath and spoke up.

"I woke up a few days ago, strapped to a table. There was pain, so much pain. And this golden light. I couldn't move…I blacked out a lot. _He_ visited me…saying things. It's all such a blur," she said and did the head shaking thing again.

"That-"Jack interrupted, "What's that? You keep shaking your head."

"It's like…" she struggled for the words, "It's like some things, when I think of them - they disappear. Sort of like when you're trying to remember a dream but the more you think about it the hazier it gets. I have these huge gaps, more than just my entire life. Where these certain things are in my brain…it feels different when I try to think of them."

_Time Lord bastard _Jack thought but said nothing. The Master had clearly done more than just erase her memories. Was he blocking certain ones? Were the memories still there, locked away somewhere?

Rose continued, haltingly, "When I woke up the most recent time, before I was put into this…dress," she nodded down in distaste at her outfit, "When I woke up everything was so…clear. So beautiful. I could see everything. Before when I had woken up my mind was screaming and screaming. It was so overwhelming…it hurt so much. But that last time…" she trailed off and narrowed her eyes at the overhead lights as if trying to see something. Jack followed her line of sight but only saw the same things he had been seeing for the past year.

"And it wasn't just _sight_ it was…in m'head. Singing... and I could sense people," she stops, looking at Jack. "You probably think I'm a nutter, yeah?"

Jack smiles and shakes his head, "Rosie, I'm not sure anything could make me think that. The things I've seen…nothing can surprise me anymore." Rose smiled at him in relief.

"I felt okay when we were headed down to the other place, the control room or whatever, but then the pain came back, different than last time. There was pain and then…it was like I wasn't in control of my body. I was still there, sort of, but it wasn't _me_. I had to fight to…see what was going on. It- it's hard to explain."

"Try," Jack urged. He was excited, and ashamed to be so, but he thought he might know what was going on with her. The Doctor had filled him in a little about Rose and the Bad Wolf. It was how he had become…whatever he was. What if the Master had figured out a way to channel that power and bring it out of Rose? What if the Doctor hadn't gotten it all out of her? But the Doctor had said that she would burn, so how had the Master done this?

"I could see what I was doing, feel the power, but something else was controlling me. It felt…good," she said and looked abashed. _Same old Rose_ Jack thought happily. "I hurt people…I don't think I killed 'em. I don't think she - I - wanted to kill them. But those flyin' metal ball things…sh-I did do something to them. They disappeared. Just turned to golden dust."

"The Toclafane," Jack supplied and elaborated. "The Master brought those little monsters here somehow after he stole the TARDIS and came back to this time - before Martha, the Doctor, and I could catch up." Rose looked at him blankly so Jack explained even more.

"You see, Rose. I said that the Doctor is wonderful, and mad, but he is so much more than that. He's something called a Time Lord, an alien, and he has a ship, called the TARDIS-"

"Time and Relative Dimension in Space," Rose recited and her eyes went wide. Jack's heart leapt.

"How did you know that?" he asked, hardly able to contain the excitement in his voice.

"I-I dunno," Rose said, screwing up her face in concentration. "Since I woke up the last time, there's been this voice…in my head. It - _she_, keeps calling for help. Asking me to help 'us'. To help 'him'. Just now, she told me what T.A.R.D.I.S. stood for. Well…it's not telling really, more like pictures and feelings. I think she's…listening."

The TARDIS was mentally communicating with Rose! He should have known that, that wonderful ship would have sensed Rose. She and Rose had always had a special connection and, he guessed, the connection could have only increased after Rose had looked into the TARDIS's heart. Elation filled Jack, for he had assumed that the TARDIS was all but dead. She had looked so…damaged beyond repair when he, Martha, and the Doctor had seen her last. But she was alive! And alive enough to send mental signals to Rose, to even monitor what was going on with Rose.

"Who does that voice belong to, Jack?" Rose asked. This was the first time that Rose had used his name and, for the smallest fraction of a second, Jack felt as if he were back with her before all this had happened. They weren't, they were so far from that, but at least they were together.

"The TARDIS is a space ship, yes, well- a time _and_ space ship, but she is also sentient. She is _alive_. The Doctor and the TARDIS are connected, and through that connection they give each other strength and can do marvelous things like translate any language inside of your head. Very strange the first time, but also very handy."

"So…I have a space ship talking to me inside my head?" Rose asked.

"Yep!" Jack replied and they both smiled. It seemed Rose hadn't lost her appreciation of the marvelously insane either.

"Who is Martha?" Rose asked suddenly.

"Martha is a companion of the Doctor's…like you were," Jack said, watching his words carefully. Even though Rose couldn't remember anything, he knew that the old Rose would be supremely jealous of any female companion of the Doctor, past or present.

"Did I know her too?"

"No, she came…after you," the hesitation in Jack's voice made Rose look at him quizzically.

"After me?" she asked, "Where did I go? Did I go home or something?" The innocence of that question pained Jack. Rose would _never_ have left the Doctor willingly and the real story was utterly heartbreaking.

"Sort of," he began and once the words started they wouldn't stop. "You and the Doctor, you were doing what you did best. Saving the world. You…almost fell out of existence with the creatures you were battling, but your father - your alternate reality father – saved you and brought you to his dimension," he paused. "Okay now it is my turn to ask you if you think _I'm_ crazy," Jack asked, looking at her cautiously. She had been biting her lip and staring at him so hard that he just had to ask. The story _did_ sound crazy, even to one like him who had lived through even crazier.

"No…not crazy. But - I dunno, I don't think you are lying because…you feel…right. Good. I don't feel like I have a choice but to trust you. That and I have nothing to compare what is crazy or not," she laughed half-heartedly. "Oh this is _so_ frustrating!"

Jack laughed too, "You're tellin' me!" he said. "I saw you come in here and thought I was going to get rescued!" He immediately regretted saying that when her face fell again.

"Sounds like I used to be the rescuing type, yeah?" she asked quietly.

"You were – are – amazing Rose. Memories or no memories," Jack replied and was relieved to see her face soften. Then something else came across it. An expression that Jack had seen many times and it filled him with hope. Determination, as only Rose could have.

"The Master, he said that I was going to be his secret weapon," she said and he could see her brain working a mile a minute. "Well, if I can get that power back - and I can still feel it all locked away…if I can do that…" she trailed off, and suddenly, with a spark in her eye, smiled her tongue-in-teeth smile that Jack thought he would never see again. He grinned.

"Rose Tyler, you brilliant girl, where should we start?"

*?*?*?*

These couldn't be his hands.

This couldn't be his body.

He, who was so clever, so capable, who had saved the universe so many times…what had he become?

The Doctor crouched in the cage staring at his tiny, feeble hands in disbelief. His elderly body had been bad enough…what was he now? No wonder Rose hadn't recognized him - he didn't even recognize himself!

Rose. All this time she had been within reach. How could he not have sensed her? He had let her down so many times when they were together and he had thought that Canary Warf had been the biggest mistake - but no. He had felt her in pain, had _known_ that the Master was doing something awful and he hadn't done anything, just waited. He knew it was stupid and selfish but if he had known it was her…there wouldn't have been an obstacle big enough to prevent him ripping this whole ship down to get to her.

The plan that he, the Jones', and Jack had so painstakingly devised had failed miserably. Beyond miserably, for now he was this useless creature stuck in a _cage_. He closed his eyes and reached for Rose's mind for the seventeenth time since he had been locked in here but with the same results as before. There was a whisper of her consciousness but it was so faint that all he could do was brush it.

Rose. His sweet, passionate, oh-so-human Rose. What had the Master done to her? The power and sheer _time_ that had been coursing through her as she stood in front of him was like nothing he had ever seen, not even on Satellite 5. She was an anomaly. The Bad Wolf.

He had heard guards talking after the Master had left, discussing what they had seen her do. She had vaporized the Toclafane just like she had done to the Daleks all those years ago. But she hadn't done so to the human guards. Maybe there was still some of _his_ Rose left inside her after all. There had to be. He didn't know if he could survive this if she was well and truly gone.

The only way he had survived this long is through the knowledge that she was alive in Pete's World. He had nearly given up that Christmas, standing underneath the Thames watching the destruction of yet another species at his hands. If it hadn't been for Donna, brilliant Donna, he wouldn't be here now. Part of him wished that he weren't because then maybe the Master wouldn't have ended up here. Wouldn't have found Rose. He would gladly have died if it meant that all of this could be erased.

Another wave of guilt and horror was washing over him when the elevator opened and the Master and Lucy stepped out. She was cowering behind him, staring at the Doctor in fear and revulsion. Why was she more afraid of him now? Now, that he was this…thing?

"Tomorrow they launch," the Master called from the doorway. He approached with caution, Lucy clinging onto his arm in fear. "We're opening up a rift in the Braccatolian Space." The Doctor turned his saucer-like eyes onto the Master and Lucy, the latter of which had stayed near the elevator as her husband walked on, hands in pockets. "Won't see us coming. Kind of scary."

"Then stop," the Doctor said, his voice even weaker than it had been before. "Let her go. Undo this." He sat back against the bars, too weak to even remain in a crouch anymore. There was no need to say her name; the Master knew who the Doctor was talking about.

"Once the empire is established and there's a new Gallifrey in the heavens, maybe then it stops. But you must know I can never let her go. I will _never _release her. Couldn't even if I wanted to. She will help me rule our empire, standing at my side."

Despite everything that had happened, the Doctor's hearts still twinged with pity and yes, guilt, at the Master's words. How many times had he, the Doctor, wanted to erase all that had happened and restore his people? How many times had he almost been desperate enough - lonely enough to do it?

For so long he had been empty, empty but for the rage and grief at what he had done. He had purposely thrown himself into dangerous situation after dangerous situation, secretly wishing for his final death to come.

But then he had met _her_ and everything had changed.

The Master, however, _was_ desperate and mad enough to create this horrific paradox and believe that he could bring Gallifrey back…and maybe he could. Without Rose, the Bad Wolf, the Doctor could handle the Master. Martha would not fail. The addition of the Bad Wolf had transformed this into an entirely different situation. He had seen what she was capable of, but then she had been defending him. She didn't even remember him now, didn't even seem to remember who she was. If the Master got her to fight for him-

No. He mustn't even think it.

She had to be in there still. If he could just get to her. The Doctor longed to feel her fingers laced through his, gripping tight. He looked at his hands again, these hands, this body, that had been regenerated to suit hers, now transformed into a shrunken, wrinkly, arthritic thing.

Whilst Lucy looked on, the Master drew nearer the cage, lowering her voice so that she couldn't overhear him. "The drumming," he said, and the Doctor could tell that he didn't actually _want _to be telling him this but that he couldn't resist. "The never-ending drumbeat. Ever since I was a child, I looked into the Vortex. That's when it chose me. The drumming, the call to war. Can't you hear it?" Despite himself, the Doctor felt more pity wash through him. He knew the terrors of looking into the Vortex. He had, had to do it as well and it had changed him forever. But not like it had changed his former friend. The Master continued, imploringly," Listen it's there now, right now. Tell me you can hear it, Doctor. Tell me!"

The Doctor stood and gripped the bars of the cage with his tiny hands, "It's only you."

The moment of weakness was gone from the Master's eyes, replaced by his cold mask. "Good," he said and then three Toclafane entered the room.

"Tomorrow the war. Tomorrow we rise. Never to fall," they chimed, their unnatural, child-like voices sending goose bumps down the Doctor's back.

"You see?" the Master asked, gesturing towards the Toclafane. "You see? I'm doing it for them. You should be grateful - after all, _you_ loved them. So very, very much."

The Master sat down heavily in a chair, mock exasperation in his every movement. The Doctor knew what lay underneath the surface though. Despite the Master's madness, despite their centuries of rivalry, the Master still craved validation. He wanted desperately for the Doctor to see things his way and to appreciate everything he had done. It saddened the Doctor, yes, but it also gave him hope. If the Master were truly a lost cause he would have killed him long ago instead of keeping him around as a pet, talking to him constantly.

"I took Lucy to Utopia," the Master said, glancing at his wife. "A Time Lord and his human companion. I took her to see the stars – isn't that right, sweetheart?"

Lucy looked at her husband and then the Doctor with that blank mask that she so often wore. The Doctor knew better. She spoke up in her soft, subservient voice, "Trillions of years into the future, to the end of the universe."

"Tell him what you saw," the Master urged.

"Dying," a small, strange smile came across her face, her eyes far away. "Everything dying. The whole of creation was falling apart and I thought…there's no point, no point to anything, not ever."

"And it's all you fault," the Master concluded. The Doctor knew then what game the Master was playing with him, how he was using Lucy as yet another pawn. Knowing didn't make the game any less effective. His undying guilt rose to the surface again, just as the Master had wanted, had expected. And he wasn't done. "You should have seen it, Doctor. Furnaces, burning. The last of humanity screaming at the dark. All that human invention that had sustained them across the eons, it all turned inward – they cannibalized themselves…"

"We made ourselves so pretty," a female Toclafane chimed in. Horror streaked its way through the Doctor. Somehow he had assumed this whole time that the Master had done this to the last of the humans. But no. They had done it to themselves. How many times had he declared loudly and proudly how brilliant the human race was? They were always surprising and amazing him with their sheer determination to survive. Was this what all of that inventiveness had come to? Was this the only way for the human race to survive?

The Master went on, his mind far away, not hearing the Toclafane's interruption, "…Regressing into children. But it didn't work. The universe was collapsing around them. And so, thanks to your little trick with your TARDIS, I was able to go back. To collect them, to bring them to their Utopia after all. But they were full of hate, and murder, my little children."

"Just like their father," the Doctor rasped. The Master pretended not to hear and the Doctor knew where he was going with this. The paradox machine.

"My masterpiece, Doctor – a living TARDIS strong enough to hold the paradox in place, allowing the past and the future to collide in infinite majesty. It worked for a while, your TARDIS, but she couldn't hold this reality together. She needed…more. I was just starting to get concerned about what I would do after the TARDIS failed when you showed up, and with you, your memories of Rose. So, really, I should thank you Doctor. You gave me your TARDIS _and_ your extraordinary human."

Anger roiled inside of the Doctor at her name upon the Master's lips. "What did you do to her?" he finally asked, the question that had been plaguing him ever since he had seen her.

The Master swiveled his chair to face him, an evil glint in his eye, "Oh nothing that you hadn't already done. You took an ignorant, innocent, mortal girl and transformed her into your weapon, didn't you Doctor? How many times did you lead her straight into danger? Oh this time you thought that you were saving her by sending her away, at least, that is what you told yourself. But even I can see the determination and passion in that girl. You couldn't really have thought that she would just go on her merry way. You trained her too well for that."

Doubt and misery plagued the Doctor and he tried hard not to succumb to the Master's mind games but the Master was saying nothing that the Doctor's mind hadn't already come up with during his sleepless nights. When his myriad of guilt's and fears came to tear him apart.

It had been easier when Rose had still been with him. When his torment had become too great he had slipped silently into her room, standing close to the door in case she woke. He had gazed down upon her sleeping form and peace would fill him, driving away, if not all of his nightmares, replacing them with hope. After she had been lost, all he had, had was himself, and he was terrible company.

"Release her," the Doctor implored once more, all of his strength leaving him. The Master laughed; a mean laugh.

"You keep asking me that, but don't you see? I made her _more. _I did what you would never have done. You think you love her, but you would have watched her wither away and die, never to realize her full potential. It was I - I who did what you could not, I who pulled her into my reality and transformed her into something worthy of being a Time Lord's companion. No, Doctor, I shall never release her. She is not yours anymore…and never will be again."

Lucy let out a choked sob but regained her composure quickly when the Master flexed his hand and rolled it into a fist threateningly. The Doctor shook with rage.

"What you have done to her…the pain you have caused her," the Doctor said, fighting to make his voice loud and assertive through the emotion threatening to choke him. "You will live to regret it. I will stop this."

The Master gave him a pitying look, "Oh Doctor. Your threats would have so much more power if I hadn't already taken everything from you. I have your TARDIS, your girl, your sidekick, your world. What do you have left to believe in?"

The Doctor rose painfully to his feet, putting his shoulder back and looking the Master dead in the eye. "I believe in her."

Something in his voice - or maybe their mental connection made the Master narrow his eyes instead of laugh. His voice was full of steel when he spoke, "This is _my_ world now, Doctor. My rules."

"But you're changing history," the Doctor said, trying to appeal to any scrap of the Time Lord sense of duty that may remain in the other man. "Not just Earth, the entire universe."

"I'm a Time Lord. I have that right."

"But even then, why come all this way just to destroy?"

The Toclafane picked up the argument, "We come backwards in time, all to build a brand-new empire lasting one hundred trillion years."

"With me as their master. Time Lords and humans combined. Haven't you always dreamt of that, Doctor? Don't deny it; I've seen your dreams. Your…desires." He said the last word with a lecherous grin and a wink.

The Master rose to his feet and strode over the Doctor's cage, getting in close and looking him right in the eye. "Human race, greatest monsters of them all." He turned away and Lucy reached out for him only to be shrugged off. The Master turned back to the Doctor and smiled, "'Night then." He exited the room with Lucy trailing behind him. The Toclafane disengaged itself from the stand in the table and flew after them.

Lucy turned back one last time to look at the Doctor and there was a glint in her eye that scared him. A threat? He couldn't be sure but he had a feeling that the poor woman was as mad as her husband, or near to it.

The two people and the single Toclafane disappeared into the purple light of the elevator as the door slid shut.

_What have I done?_ The Doctor thought, hanging his head. The TARDIS, sensing his despair, touched his mind with hers, sending a faint message of strength. It worked, and he raised his head.

"I will fix this, Rose," he said out loud, also sending the message to her with his mind, whether she could feel it or not. "I will fix this or so help me I will die trying."

The last of his strength gone, he slid down to settle on the bottom of the cage, combating the despair that threatened to consume him with memories that he held dear.

"_They keep tryin' to split us up, but they never, ever will."_

**A/N: So, what did you think? This chapter was a lot of setting up for future events so I hope it wasn't too boring. The epic battle for the universe is coming up, as is Martha's return (dun dun dunnnn), a (ship-worthy) kiss, a death, a teleportation, and a hippogriff. Okay, just kidding about the hippogriff (unfortunately) but there's lots of fabulous things to come so I hope you review and feed my oh-so-exhausted muse. I should have plenty of time to write this weekend, despite the holidays, so if I get enough reviews then mayhaps I will reward you with another exciting installment. **

**On a somewhat unrelated note, a package arrived at my house today and when I picked it up I heard the unmistakable sound of the TARDIS coming from within. It is taking all of my willpower not to go hunting for my presents like I did as a wee lassie because I WANT WHATEVER MADE THAT NOISE! Ahem, please excuse my outburst, I am beyond exhausted. I adore you all and wish beautiful sugar cookies and David Tenant's upon all your houses. Xx Lady Ten**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hello dear readers! Oh how I have missed you! I must apologize for the delay in posting this chapter. I have been working on it for a few days and it became this enormous monster that never ended. I simply could not find a stopping point! You will notice that it begins with a flash forward, a rather cliffhangery flash forward. So, if you could picture this chapter like one of the two part episodes…that would be great, because it is. There will be a big fat TO BE CONTINUED at the end of it which I am sure you all will hate me for (and secretly love me too). Oh and there is some violence and language (of the British variety) in this and the next chapter so I hope I don't offend anyone.**

**A big, ginmorous, HUGE thank you to Pig-Rabbit-Suk, Heart of Diamond, OTHCharmfan, SittingOnTheEdgeOfTheUnivers e, starlingmks, RoseKatnissWeasley7, TMarie325, JollyRoger1, Laura, DreamIntoTheOcean, Amelia , aeonian, hungrywhovianpotterhead, Names Have Power/Drizzt Do'Urden, and three anonymous guests. You guys made my Christmas with your amazing reviews. I can't tell you how great it is to hear from you guys week after week. And yes, I did get a TARDIS for Christmas. Okay, maybe not THE TARDIS but the noise was coming from the TARDIS cookie jar. I also got the lunchbox and a tee-shirt. My goal is to have a shirt for every day of the week. Four more to go! What did all of you get (if you celebrate Christmas, if not what do you already have as far as Whochendise?) Okay, okay on with the chapter!**

_Flash Forward_

The Doctor shook, sobs threatening to break out of him. Crouched on the floor, head in his hands, he couldn't get the events of the past four hours out of his head and they flashed past his eyes at a rapid rate. He kept seeing instances where he could have changed something. Anything. Saved her.

Oh Rassilion why didn't he save her?

_Five Hours Earlier_

She was concentrating so hard that it felt like every vein in her head was going to burst.

Once again, nothing happened.

She opened her eyes and glanced up at Jack just in time to see disappointment flash across his face before it was replaced by a small, weak smile.

They had been trying for hours - trying to get _anything_ to happen but all she had managed to do was give herself a headache.

Her shackles clinked softly as she shifted, giving one foot a break while the other held her weight.

"M'sorry," Rose – it was a great comfort to know her own name now – said as she looked at the man across from her. Captain Jack Harkness.

The stories that he had told her had been so outlandish and, frankly, crazy but somehow she knew that he had been telling her the truth. Maybe some small part of her abilities remained within her grasp because she caught little flares of emotion that came off of him, and right now he was disappointed.

Rose was disappointed in herself. She thought that maybe, just maybe, if she focused enough that she could break down some of the barriers that the Master had put up when they had been in the control room.

No such luck.

"Nothing to be sorry for, Rose," Jack said. "It's only been a little while and that Master did a number on you." His encouraging words did nothing to make her feel better. She felt so, so helpless, and hated it. She knew she was capable of immense power, her demonstration in the control room was proof enough of that, but whatever the Master had done to her that last time had put the power so far out of her reach that she didn't even know where to look.

Rose sighed, shifted, and winced. This whole shackled spread eagled thing was really starting to get old. It had been nearly thirteen hours by her guess_, thirteen hours one minute for seconds, _and there had been no sign of the Master or anyone besides their guards.

Rose was about to try again when something on the ship _shifted_. Her eyes widened slightly, "Did you feel that?" she asked Jack.

Jack gave her a questioning look, "Feel what?"

"The ship…it-" then she realized that the sensation hadn't been physical. The shift had taken place in her head, in the aura of the ship - the atmosphere had changed. A pressure that had been pushing on all sides of her mind lifted somewhat and she was willing to bet that the Master was no longer on board. With each passing minute the pressure lessened until it was a faint touch upon her mind. Eagerly, Rose reached for the golden void, but to no avail. The Master still had a hold on whatever part of her controlled the power.

"I think the Master left," Rose said, answering Jack's inquisitive look.

"Well that's new, didn't think he deigned to set foot upon his new empire these days," Jack said sarcastically. His face turned serious, "Wonder what tempted him…"

Rose could feel concern radiating off of Jack at a more heightened level than before. She switched her focus to the guards and could also sense them. They were bored.

Excitement filled her at the realization that her mental powers were minutely restored. Every little bit counted.

Rose detested feeling helpless, detested being used as the Master's puppet. Her lack of power left a gaping hole in her that had not been there previously. She remembered bits and pieces from the control room, when she had been able to force herself through the other consciousness or whatever it had been that had taken over in the elevator. She remembered being overwhelmed by everything around her - the misery, anger, despair, the thousands of voices that had all begun screaming inside her head at once. And then everything had gone gold.

She had felt herself, her human self, being shoved violently back behind barriers and protected from the voices and feelings that had threatened to drive her mad. She thought it must have been some sort of self-preservation, but it had also been more than that. The power she had wielded…it was indescribable. Rose had never felt so _alive_.

The sensation had been similar to that of the Void but she didn't have any control of her actions. The golden void kept pushing her back, putting up wall after wall which she had fought hard against. Every now and then she had managed to break through and caught snippets of conversation and flashes of the events that were going on around her. Now that she was free, she could remember more of what had happened when she had been forced back.

A memory from the control room surfaced. The old man had definitely recognized her. The stunned look on his face had said it all and she could recall him saying her name faintly, before she had even known it herself. The events leading up to her traveling with a centenarian where lost to her but from what Jack had said he was a remarkable being. He had looked so sad…and whatever the Master had done to him…

Rose tried to shake the image of the pitiful creature that had crawled out of the suit but failed. It was _unnatural_ and just plain cruel. She didn't know the back story between the Master and the Doctor but nobody deserved to go through the pain that the Doctor had endured under the Master's weapon. She remembered lunging towards the seizing man, feeling an uncontrollable urge to protect him. Remembered vaporizing the Toclafane. What had she done?

Rose twitched as a feather-light touch brushed against her mind. At first she feared it was the Master, but he could never be so gentle. No, it had been something else, but whatever it had been was gone now, despite her efforts to connect.

Determination coursed through Rose's veins. She would _not_ be a victim or a weapon for evil. She may have lost her memory and been tortured but she was strong. She would fight.

"The only time that I've been able to use these…powers…is when I was angry and scared," Rose said, trying to remember how she had summoned the power when she had been in the little room with the bed.

Before the Master had grabbed her head and shut her down.

"Well, if there were ever a time to be angry and scared, Rose, this would be it," Jack joked.

Rose humored him with a smile but she didn't feel like joking. She should be able to do this! A part of her wished that something would happen, some sort of imminent danger, and then immediately felt foolish. Hadn't she been in imminent danger since awakening in this hell?

Jack's face became thoughtful and she saw his gaze flick over to the guards. "Oh Rose, only for you," he said with a heavy sigh. Suddenly he began shouting at the guards and Rose's jaw dropped.

"Hey you!" he hollered, the guards must have turned because he went on. "Yeah you, you munters!"

"What are you doing?" Rose hissed but Jack ignored her.

"How about we get some hospitality around here eh? Or didn't your minger mother ever teach you any manners?" Rose heard boot steps on the metal catwalk and the sound of the key in the lock of the gate.

"Mind putting a bag over your head though? What did you do, fall out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down? My God! It's like you-" Jack was abruptly cut off by a powerful right hook from one of the guards. Blood sprayed out of his nose but that didn't stop him, "Please! I've been hit harder by newborn Rak-" another blow.

"Jack! Stop it!" Rose cried as she watched the violent scene unfolding in front of her. Jack kept spouting colorful insults and, in turn, the guards began beating him with fists and gun butts. Rose struggled against her shackles feeling the metal dig into her sensitive skin.

More blood streamed down Jack's face from a myriad of cuts but he kept on shouting, not even making sense now. Rose's stomach churned. "Stop it! All of you stop it!"

She heard the sickening crunch of Jack's ribs breaking under a particularly nasty blow from the stock of a rifle. Jack cried out at that one and suddenly the rifles were gone, dissolved into a cloud of golden dust that dissipated into the atmosphere. Rose's eyes widened as she looked up and saw the golden light gathering in her clenched hands. The guard who had been about to swing the gun again lurched forward with the empty momentum, stumbling and they both looked wildly around for their weapons. Not wanting to back down, they went after Jack again, this time only with their fists.

Rose had, had enough and she could feel the small trickle of power. Rejoiced in it. Right as both guards were about to strike Jack at the same time she concentrated all of her will and thrust it at them, watching the power leave her body and slam into them.

The guards bent over double, clamping their hands over their ears, to no avail. What they were hearing was only in their heads and Rose was not about to let up.

The two men sank to the ground and headed for the gate, shrinking away from the terrible din that she was inflicting inside of their minds. Rose couldn't hold it much longer, she could feel the power slipping away, feel her body weakening but she had to hold it until they were gone. She could not allow them to hurt Jack anymore, whether or not he had asked for it.

Finally they managed to stand and their boots could be heard clanging away, growing fainter as they fled.

Rose craned her neck to watch them go, releasing the energy with a sigh of relief. Inflicting pain upon another living being was not easy or enjoyable and it had been hard to hold it that long…whatever she had done.

She heard coughing and turned her attention to Jack. When she saw him she gasped. Jack's wounds were healing as she watched, his split lip sealing itself and cutting off the flow of blood. Another slice on his forehead disappeared.

"Jack…" she whispered, watching the healing process until the only evidence of the attack was the blood. Jack smiled at her craftily.

"Neat trick, eh?" he said, and spat a glob of blood over his shoulder, stretching his neck to either side.

"How-?" she stammered again, unable to comprehend what her own eyes were telling her.

"I think the question is more how did you get rid of those meatheads?" Jack replied, seemingly unfazed by his miraculous recovery.

Rose hardly heard him, so great was her surprise. "Jack how did you heal like that? What are you?"

Jack's smile faded, "Long story, you wouldn't know even if you had your memories." Rose raised her eyebrows slightly and Jack continued, "The last time we saw each other we were in a battle…the Doctor sent you away, that daft fool, he should have known you would come back. You shouldn't have been able to but somehow you ended up looking into the heart of the TARDIS and absorbed the Time Vortex." A brief memory flashed through Rose's mind of a conversation she and the Master had, had.

"_Oh Rose, you silly little girl. The question isn't what I did to you, it's what you did to yourself. Did you and the Doctor really think that the influence of the Time Vortex on a human could be completely removed?"_

"The Time Vortex?" she asked, not knowing if she really wanted to hear this.

"Yeah, you became some sort of…goddess of time. I don't know the full story, the Doctor never got around to telling me. All I know is…I was dead and you, Rose Tyler, brought me back to life. For good."

None of this made sense to Rose but the connections were forming.

"So…I brought you back to life? And now you can heal," it wasn't really a question but Jack answered her anyway.

"Yep," he said, popping the 'p' in a way that tickled the back of her mind. "Rose, you were – are - the best and worst thing that has ever happened to me."

Their eyes met and the absurdity as well as the danger of their desperate situation caused them both to begin laughing out of sheer exhaustion.

Jack sobered, "But really Rose, I may have been getting the crap kicked out of me by Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum but I saw what you did."

Rose stopped laughing and remembered how she had dissolved the rifles and then caused the guards to flee. "Don't do that again, Jack. Just 'cause I don't remember who you are doesn't mean that I can just watch that."

Jack smiled slightly, "Yeah but you have to hand it to me, the plan worked. You did it! You can still do your Time-girl-thing and with that, you can do anything."

He was right, Rose knew that, but at the same time what she had done scared her. She may not have physically hurt those men but the mental torture she had put them under was…cruel. She had been aware of what she was doing to them, conjuring up their worst nightmares and bringing them to the surface in a slideshow of terror. That's why they had fled.

_Is this who I am?_ She thought sadly, not wanting who she really was to be somebody capable of doing harm.

"Rose, whatever you did, you only did it to help me," Jack said, as if reading her mind. It didn't help much.

"Yeah," she agreed, "But if somebody has to get hurt just so I can blast 'em with that gold stuff…I don't want it." Suddenly the pressure began to increase and she could feel her access to the power diminishing with each passing second.

The Master was coming back.

Soon, the pressure was at full force and, almost on cue, multiple footsteps could be heard approaching their makeshift cell.

"Looks like your job isn't over yet, Rosie," Jack said, his gaze fixated over her shoulder. He looked straight at her as the gate squeaked open, "You have to save us. I'm sorry but it's you."

Rough hands grabbed Rose's ankles and she could hear locks being disengaged. She struggled with her newly free limbs, kicking out with bare feet but to no avail. She felt the muzzle of a rifle dig into the small of her back.

"None of that, sweetheart," a voice growled. "The Master is wantin' you alive…unfortunately." Rose watched as four guards went to attend to Jack, handling him even more roughly than her.

"No funny business or he gets it," one of Jack's guards said to Rose. She responded with a glare but said nothing. Now that the Master was back she had a feeling that she couldn't do any 'funny business' even if she had wanted to.

"Move," a guard barked, and both Rose and Jack were thrust forward roughly. Rose tripped slightly as her toes caught in the catwalk but multiple hands were there to steady her then push her again. Her joints were stiff from being in one position for so long and soon pins and needles were burning in her hands and feet but she kept walking, head up, eyes fixed ahead at whatever fresh hell the Master had planned for her. Jack's words echoed in her mind and anxiety roiled underneath her calm exterior.

_If I'm the only hope then we are all doomed_ she thought sadly and flinched when the now familiar, ethereal touch of the TARDIS entered her mind.

"_Save us. You are not alone,"_ the TARDIS impressed the message upon her mind in pictures and feelings. A hand being held out and hers entwining with it. A feeling of calm. An image that could only be from the TARDIS's perspective of a river of golden light pouring into her eyes. The message ended and Rose inhaled sharply. She didn't think she would ever get used to this kind of communication, and now that she knew it was coming from a…from a spaceship…

But the TARDIS's message had helped, the calmness remained. She wasn't alone, she could do this.

She had to do this.

Jack, Rose, and the guards marched through the halls of the ship and Rose knew that they were headed back towards the control room. They entered the same elevator that they had first descended in and with each passing floor the sense of calm that the TARDIS had instilled in her faded, replaced by gnawing anxiety. She didn't want to see the Master again. Rose hated to admit it but she was _scared_. He had already done so many heinous things…

The elevator doors slid open and the bright light in the room momentarily blinded her. After her eyes adjusted, Rose took in the scene. The Master was standing on the balcony, his eyes fixated upon her and the hungry look that he was giving her made her shudder slightly.

Three dark-skinned people, a young woman, an older woman who appeared to be her mother, and an older man, stood to the left. They stared at her warily, as if they could not decide whether she was friend or foe.

_With the Master's power over me who can tell_ Rose thought bitterly. Jack's guards led him off to the right of the door and Rose struggled to go with him but the arms gripping her were like steel.

"Jack!" she called out instead.

Arms behind his back, he looked out at her from his dirty face, giving her what was probably supposed to be a comforting smile. "It's alright Rose, just remember what we talked about," he said cryptically. Rose nodded reluctantly and took in the rest of the room as she was led towards the Master. With horror her eyes fell upon the birdcage hanging about ten feet away from Jack. The creature – no, the _Doctor_ - was watching her with his enormous eyes. She was surprised to feel the sadness radiating off of him. She could feel him, even with the Master present.

Rose fought to remember him, to remember _anything_ but it all still eluded her, locked up inside the labyrinth the Master had constructed in her mind.

_Who are you?_ She asked silently, not wanting to take her eyes off of him but then the Master cleared his throat theatrically and she reflexively looked up at him. He stood at the top of the stairs, hand outstretched to her in a welcoming gesture. Her guards released their grips and pushed her forward, causing her to stumble again.

"There's my pet," the Master said, beaming down at her. She took once step to steady herself and stopped, fixing him with what she thought was her most devastating glare. Rage briefly marred his otherwise exuberant face and when he spoke his voice was low, threatening, "Come here."

Rose cringed as he delved into her head, rooting around for any threats that she may carry with her. Not knowing how she did it, she flung barriers up, hiding away her time with Jack, their conversation, and the attack on the guards. Miraculously, it seemed to work and he released her. She heard a gun cock and turned around to see the weapon pointed at Jack's head. If what he said was true, he would come back to life if the trigger was pulled, but she could not put him through that.

With a deep breath, Rose approached the stairs and ascended. When she did not take his offered hand the Master leaned forward and snatched hers, gripping her fingers until they hurt. He drew her the rest of the way up and positioned himself close before her. She knew what he was intending before he did it. She saw him glance over at the Doctor in the cage, then at Jack and she desperately clawed around inside of herself for the power, willing to give herself up to it.

But it was too late; the Master's free hand circled her waist, brushing the exposed skin on the small of her back before crashing his mouth into hers. She struggled but he was stronger. She tried to repeat her attack that had worked so well the last time he had forced himself upon her but he pushed her back and away from him, into the railing. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jack struggling with his captors and heard the blow that he received in return for his efforts. Giving her a devious smile the Master licked his bottom lip slowly before whipping around to face the room.

Rose wiped her mouth with the back of her hand in disgust and momentarily contemplated pushing him down the stairs until she saw the gun still pointed at Jack's head. She remained where she was.

Lucy was nowhere to be found and idly Rose wondered where she was. Lucy's threat from before surfaced in her mind and she was saddened that the woman was so very attached to such an evil man, to a man incapable of love.

"Now then!" the Master called out, addressing the room at large. "We have a very special guest on this very special day!" He bounded across the balcony and back again, leaning out over the rail, "Aren't you all just _dying_ to find out who it is?" His question was rhetorical and met with silence. Rose saw the family shifting about nervously. Who could it be?

Her eyes flicked over to the Doctor and she was startled to see that he was still staring at her, his tiny hands clasping the bars of his cage. Again, she felt the oh-so-gentle brush against her mind and knew it was from him.

_Who are you?_ She asked again silently but received no reply.

"Citizens of Earth, rejoice and observe," a voice announced loudly, causing Rose, and many others in the room, to jump slightly.

Everyone turned towards the elevator as the doors hissed open revealing a pretty dark-skinned girl escorted by two guards who towered above her slight form.

She was not close enough that Rose could make out her face clearly but she had her hair pulled back tightly, exposing large eyes. She had on a dark coat, tactical pants, and heavy boots which she stumbled over as one of the guards shoved her forward.

Rose was fixated upon her, curious. _You must be Martha_, Rose thought, recalling Jack's mention of just such a woman. Despite her situation Martha walked into the room, glancing around with fearful eyes. Rose saw Martha's gaze pass right over her, probably taking her for the Master's mistress. She certainly looked the part, still draped in the revealing, albeit stained, red dress, blonde hair now free to tumble down around her shoulders to fall just below her breasts.

Martha drew closer and Rose did not miss the unshielded look of relief and…love? that passed over the woman's face as she saw the Doctor. Rose was surprised by the twinge that lanced through her, emanating from some deep part of her psyche. Jealousy? No, that was ridiculous; she didn't even know the man.

The room was silent, so each of Martha's boot steps rang throughout the space, each one bringing her closer to the Master. Rose could feel power and madness radiating off of him as he drew close to her. An arm snaked around her waist, pulling her to his side and she struggled slightly before his fingers dug into her soft flesh accompanied by a silent threat through their mental link.

When Martha reached the foot of the stairs the Master once again extended his free hand. "Your teleport device," he said his voice menacingly soft, "In case you thought I'd forgotten."

Martha reluctantly reached into her right thigh cargo pocket and extracted a black leather item. With a resigned look she tossed it to the Master, who caught it with ease, not releasing Rose in the process.

Curiosity about this woman burned through Rose. Why would she have left Jack and the Doctor to this fate and how had she been captured?

"And now," the Master said, giving Rose one more squeeze before stepping away, "_Kneel."_

Rose embraced the opportunity for freedom and took as many steps away from the Master as she dared. She could sense the tension of the room, _feel_ it coming out of every one of the bodies around her. With a brief flash of excitement she realized that, with the Master so distracted, her powers were more within her grasp, if only the barest fraction of what it had been before.

She found that she _craved_ the power. Rose had only experienced it for a brief moment but in that moment she had seen everything, been everywhere. It was like her whole mind and body had opened up and become one with the universe, and now that it was gone she felt like an empty shell, a shadow of her former self.

Rose watched as Martha knelt and felt so sorry for the poor woman. She had been free, but nobody, it seemed, was free from the Master for long. Unconsciously Rose wiped her mouth again.

"Down below the fleet is ready to launch," the Master, twirling his laser screwdriver. "Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe." He darted over to a panel on the wall and pressed a button. "Are we ready?" he asked and Rose determined that he was talking to the aforementioned fleet.

"The fleet awaits your signal, rejoice!" the voice from before declared.

"Oh yes let's rejoice," Rose muttered under her breath and the Master whipped around to glare at her. He chose to ignore the statement however, and walked back over the balcony. He checked his watch.

"Three minutes to align the black hole converters," he said loudly, for the room to hear. Turning to Rose he grinned, "We're going to need you for this one my darling." Rose did not understand and backed away as he approached her. Her legs hit another set of stairs, blocking her retreat and he caught up to her, taking her hand in his.

"The Doctor's poor TARDIS is dying I'm afraid," he said, loud enough for the Doctor to hear and he spared a glance. Rose looked over too and saw the sadness on the Doctor's face increase, if that was even possible. Without thinking about it, Rose reached out with her mind, trying to find the TARDIS. The ship met her halfway but the Master had been right, she was weak. Very weak.

"But that's why I have you, my bad, bad little wolf," he said with a wolfish grin of his own. He reached out and tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear before she could dodge away from his touch. "Remember our conversation, Rose," the Master said quietly so only she could hear. "You must do as I say or you know what I will do." Rose grimaced internally, conflict rising within her.

How could she do as this psychopath wanted? But how could she refuse when the consequences would be devastating. The Master did not wait for her response, his audience was waiting. Rose looked back down at the kneeling Martha and their eyes met. Martha was studying her with a mix of puzzlement and resentment garnished with a little bit of hate. Rose hoped that Martha didn't think that she was a willing participant in any of this, but from the look on Martha's face that was exactly what was running through her head.

Unable to hold the hostile stare, Rose followed the Master's gaze over to a clock on the wall. Just as she did the numbers began to tick down from 180.

"Counting down!" the Master said and fear launched its way throughout Rose's body and mind. What was she going to do? "I never could resist a ticking clock," the Master joked, grinning boyishly.

"MY CHILDREN, ARE YOU READY?" he yelled suddenly.

Tinny, childish voices came through the speakers, "We will fly and blaze and slice. We will fly and blaze and slice…" they chanted. The clock continued to count down, each second marked by a computerized chirp. Rose, panicked, turned to look at Jack who had been glaring at the Master but was now staring at her. He seemed to want to tell her something, or to encourage her, but it wasn't working at the moment.

"At zero to mark this day," the Master said, addressing the room once again, "The child, Martha Jones will die...at the hands of my new queen. He grinned and laughed slightly, "Our first blood. Any last words?" Rose turned again to Martha who remained silent. "No?" the Master asked, seemingly disappointed. He glanced over at the Doctor, bored.

He was going to make _her_ kill Martha? She wouldn't do it. He could do what he wanted to her but she would not commit _murder_. Rose's heart was pounding and the blood began to rush in her ears.

The Master continued to talk, unable to resist his, quite literally, captive audience. "Such a disappointment, this one. In days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the _Time Vortex_. This one is useless!" He gestured grandly to Rose at the mention of the Time Vortex and she saw Martha's eyes widen at her, in comprehension? of what Rose was unsure. The Doctor was, once again, staring at Rose. She felt the brush of his mind against hers but knew not what it meant. If she could just remember! The clock continued to count down, each chirp resounding in her ears.

The Master turned to Rose and summoned her with a curl of his pointer finger. Reluctantly Rose approached him, searching desperately within herself for some plan, any plan. She had none.

She stopped about a foot away from him and looked him straight in the eye. "Are you ready, my dear?" he asked fondly.

"You will not get away with this," Rose said, forcing her voice to be confident and forceful, neither of which she truly felt. The Master chuckled and reached out with both hands, settling his fingers gently upon her temples.

_This is it_ she thought, heart and mind racing. _This is my only change_.

"You will do as I say, Rose Tyler," he Master murmured for her ears only. "If you do not destroy Martha Jones, I will rip each and every person in this room limb from limb. Do not think for a second that I will not. You. Are. Mine."

Rose did not doubt his threat. The look in his eyes and the madness radiating off of him convinced her of that. He closed his eyes and suddenly Rose could feel the barriers lifting bit by torturous bit. She closed her own eyes as the ecstasy of the power trickled through her mind, entering her veins. She forgot about the Master, forgot about the situation. The voices began whispering in her head but the barriers were still there enough that they were not overwhelming or painful.

She opened her eyes and saw timelines begin streaming out from the people of the room. They were all so _short_.

They were all going to die.

The Doctor's thick, complicated braid of a timeline stopped short, unnaturally short. Somehow she knew that it should continue, stretching into the future, but it didn't. The only one whose timeline persevered was Jack's and that was tainted by a sickly hue. The Master released her and Rose took a deep breath and with it came a myriad of scents both physical and time-related. She could _smell_ time.

"Now Rose," the Master said, "I have given you just enough of your power back that you should be able to _destroy_ the woman you see below you, kneeling so pathetically. Appropriate stance, really, for a subject to meet her queen." Rose barely heard him, such was her joy at having even this much of her power back but she struggled to focus. She had to focus. "Destroy Martha Jones or witness the evisceration of everyone you see here." Rose saw the guards shift nervously and knew they were wondering if they were included in that thread. Toclafane hovered around the perimeter of the room and there was a hiss as their blades shot out.

Rose knew what the Master wanted her to do. He wanted her to erase Martha Jones from all of time and space, just as she had done to the Toclafane and to the guard's rifles. She knew she should be afraid, that she should be angry…but she wasn't. She was numb. Frozen. The Master pushed her forcefully towards the stairs and, surprised she didn't resist but paused at the top.

Rose gazed down at Martha who returned her stare with a mix of fear and pride.

_What am I going to do?_ Rose asked silently, her panic breaking through the numbness. She tried reaching out to the TARDIS but the ship's consciousness was so weak that Rose could barely sense it. Suddenly Martha's head whipped around and she looked at the Doctor. He was staring intently at Martha who had a look of confusion on her face now. Rose could feel the telepathic link connecting the two and knew that the Doctor had sent Martha message but she was too late to intercept, as it seemed, was the Master.

Martha shook her head and resumed her visual showdown with Rose who descended a couple more steps.

"And so it falls to us, as master and mistress of all, to establish, on this day, a new order of Time Lords. Form this day forward-"

Rose had watched as the smile broke across Martha's pretty face, as her shoulders began shaking with mirthless laughter.

The Master stopped his speech midsentence, "What's so funny?" he asked dangerously.

Martha raised her head and met first Rose's eyes then the Master's. "A gun," she said simply.

"What about it?" the Master asked, exasperated.

"A gun in four parts."

"Yes, and I destroyed it." Rose could feel the Master's rage bubbling to the surface mixed with a surprising amount of uncertainty.

Martha continued, her tone sounding as if she were addressing an idiot, "A gun in four parts, scattered around the world…I mean _come on._ Did you _really_ believe that?" Confusion was setting in amongst the Master and his minions.

"What do you mean?" the Master asked.

The Doctor's weak, raspy voice broke the silence, "As if I would ask her to kill."

Rose saw, to her horror, the same look on Jack's face as before when he was about to taunt the guards. His eyes met hers and he winked. All hell was about to break loose.

TO BE CONTINUED

**A/N: BUM BUM BUUUUUUUUMMMMM. I am picturing the Doctor Who dramatic "TO. BE. CONTINUED." Here's the deal, as I said, this chapter was monstrous so I split it up. So it's all written. SOOOOO if I get 20 reviews I will post the next chapter immediately. You know what to do guys. Make me the happiest Bad Wolf wanna-be that ever lived. Until then, I love you all and will be checking my inbox incessantly in the hopes of hearing from you, my friends. Remember! Let me know if you got/have any cool Who stuff. I am ever the curious one. Xx Lady Ten**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: As promised here is the chapter! I just woke up and rushed to my computer to post. This was so fun to write! I hope you can picture the battle in your head as well as I can. The next chapter will be amazing, I promise. Thank you so much to Amber Forest, ANON, Caskett54 (my particular friend and fellow DW Cannon Committee Member (if only in our own minds)), SilverLeaves, FloraFaveXNara-Wire, Rozablood, casualmoose (love Jack!), Princesscupcakes (I literally laughed out loud at the image of you "Exterminating" your brothers), SinginginThirds, cnpcamper, Heart of Diamond (I know, I am cruel), Disney-Princess-In-Disguise, SittingOnTheEdgeOfTheUnivers e, Bad Wolf, TriadBella, Scififan2005, Pig-Rabbit-Suk (woah you have a lot of amazing stuff!), BarefootBeachBum (a very impatient one), Laura (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!), atalanta563, Lyrander215 and a few of marvelous guests for your awesome reviews. It pleases me immensely that I can have you all on the edge of your seats; it means I am doing my job well! Don't hate me at the end of this…I may have lied as this whole thing will be a three to four part-er. It is just too epic to condense so I hope you all understand!**

_The Doctor's weak, raspy voice broke the silence, "As if I would ask her to kill." _

_Rose saw, to her horror, the same look on Jack's face as before when he was about to taunt the guards. His eyes met hers and he winked. All hell was about to break loose. _

*?*?*?*

The Master and Martha were still talking and at the back of her mind Rose registered something about a Professor's son and the Master declaring that she was still going to die.

For Rose, time slowed as she saw Jack's elbow come forward and then go back towards the gut of his distracted guard. The dark-skinned man, who Rose assumed was Martha's father, was doing the same. What were they doing? They were all going to die!

Before she could do anything Jack's elbow hit its target at the same time as the other man's elbow made contact with his guard's stomach. Rose watched in terror as the other two women whirled about and flung themselves at their captors. Time began speeding back up as some guards raised their guns against the prisoners and some against each other or the Toclafane.

Martha rolled out of the way as Rose whirled to face the Master. He was looking out over the room wearing a mask of rage and surprise. His gaze snapped to Rose and she dove down the stairs. She had to get away from him before he could take her small amount of power away. Not knowing why but unable to resist the urge, she sprinted barefooted to the Doctor, her momentum carrying her into the cage and causing him to be flung against the back of the bars.

"Rose-" he rasped but she cut him off.

"Don't worry, I'll get you out of here!" she cried, searching for the door. She spun the cage all the way around and finally found what she was looking for but her heart sank as her fingers encountered no lock.

"I think you'll be needing this," the Master said and she spun around, blocking the cage with her body. He was four feet away from her, holding up his laser screwdriver tauntingly. "Just what did you think you were going to accomplish by running from me, little girl?" humor leaving his face to be replaced by fury. "I MADE you!" he roared and took a step forward. Rose searched around for something - anything to help but to no avail. There was no escape. Right as the Master was about to wrap his hands around her head a figure barreled into him, knocking him to the ground. Jack.

"Get the screwdriver!" Jack hollered, struggling to overpower the Master. Rose dove for the device which had been flung out of the Master's hand. She got to her feet and pressed it against the lock.

"It has isomorphic controls, Rose," the Doctor said, "Leave me! Get out of here; you're our only hope now!" Rose stopped fiddling with the screwdriver and met his eyes.

"No!" Rose sobbed and was surprised to find she was crying. She turned to the room in time to see a Toclafane impale one of the rebel guards with its blades as one of the guards loyal to the Master cracked Martha's father over the head with a devastating blow. He crumpled to the ground. The elevator came to a stop and more people charged in to join the fray as a side door slammed open and still others streamed in. More of the Master's rebelling slaves, more Toclafane, more guards. It was chaos.

Violence surrounded her; the cries of the dying rang in her ears. A gunshot cracked through the air nearby and she saw Jack fall still, a gaping bullet wound in his forehead. The guard who had shot Jack went to help the Master up, who accepted. As he stood up the Master took the gun from the guard and shot him point blank. The look of surprise on the man's face as he fell over dead would stay in Rose's memory forever. He had shot one of his own? One that was loyal? When the Master turned to her, all sense, all reason, any remnant of sanity was gone from his eyes. He had blood splatter across his cheeks and a terrifying grin on his face.

"You. Are. MINE!" he repeated, the last word ripping through the room. Rose was frozen and she hardly felt it as the Doctor's small hand reached out and grabbed a lock of her hair, tugging her gently towards him. Not taking her eyes from the Master she leaned back and felt the Doctor's warm breath on her ear as he whispered two words accompanied by a final powerful psychic blast from the TARDIS. Her dying breath.

"Bad Wolf."

An onslaught of images began playing through her mind at a rapid pace accompanied by emotions. A part of her registered that some of them were from her perspective and some from another. From his.

Joyfearangeramazmentterroraw eexcitementlovelovelovelove

Rose could see nothing except for these images; feel nothing except for the emotions being thrust into her mind.

_A hand. Surprise. "Run!"_

_Herself grinning a tongue-touched grin. Happiness. "Come on then tightwad, chips are on me."_

_A surly man in a leather coat. Uncertainty. "You look beautiful!"_

_Herself running out of blue double doors with a young dark-skinned boy. Jealousy._

_A large metal robot. Terror. "What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?"_

_An accident. Sorrow. "Go to him."_

_Dancing. Butterflies. "The world doesn't end because the Doctor dances."_

_His face on a screen. Hope. "Rose?" "Yes, Doctor?" "I'm coming to get you."_

_Her face on a screen. Terror. _

_Pounding on a door. Desperation. "Emergency protocol…"_

_Blinding golden light. Power. "What have you done?"_

_Herself bathed in the same golden light. Awe. "My Doctor."_

_A new face. Sadness. "New teeth, that's weird."_

_Herself standing in a cave of large, vicious aliens. Shy. "I dunno, just different."_

_Snow. Uncertainty. "Oh I'd love you to come."_

_The smell of apples. Joy. "Traveling with you. I love it." "Me too."_

_A giant satanic beast. Hope. "If there's one thing that I believe in, it's her."_

_Herself falling into a void of white, reaching out. _

_Hammering on a wall. Devastation. "TAKE ME BACK!" _

_Leaning against a wall. Devastation. Silence._

The images were wiped out by an explosion of golden light and Rose knew no more.

*?*?*?*

The Doctor sensed when the Master had left the _Valiant_. The aura surrounding the whole ship lightened upon his departure. There had been a slight commotion, guards running to and fro and then the Master has stridden into the room and went directly to the Doctor's cage.

"She has returned, Doctor," the Master said, a self-satisfied grin on his face. He need not explain who 'she' was, it could only be Martha. The Doctor had been expecting this, it had been almost a year, but he was still afraid. Martha was a strong woman; it had been why he had chosen her as a companion but the Master's madness had only increased since her departure and upon the arrival of Rose.

The Doctor's silence led the Master to continue, "She's been gone all this time, eluding me, but she slipped up and now I know _exactly_ where to find her. See, I'm going down to get her myself, and I am going to make you watch as I kill her. Slowly." There were so many things that the Doctor wanted to say to the Master but he held his tongue, giving nothing away. The Master could not know that the Doctor knew that this day would come. The Master thought that Martha was running around the world gathering parts for some sort of Time Lord Kryptonite. Silly really, when everybody knew Krypton was lost ages ago.

With one last smirk, the Master strode away towards the elevator, snapping his fingers. Immediately Toclafane and human guards joined him and the Doctor caught one last glimpse of the Master's devious smile before the doors slid shut.

"Oh Martha, be careful," the Doctor whispered to the empty room.

Yet, as bad as he felt about it, the vast majority of his concern lay with Rose. She had been injured when the Master had taken her out of the room hours ago and he could no longer sense her. Unable to do anything, the Doctor sank down onto the floor of his cage and rested, feeling every second of his nine hundred years. He tried to channel all of his psychic power towards Rose, wherever she was, but found nothing. So he kept trying.

Seconds passed. Minutes. It had been nearly forty-five minutes when there was a sudden burst of power flavored strongly with Time and he knew it had to be her. He received no emotions with it and it was gone in a flash but at least he knew she was still okay. Still alive.

Part of him thought that he would feel it if Rose Tyler no longer existed, so strong was this regeneration's attachment to her. She had been the last thing his old eyes had seen and the first thing these new ones had fixed on. He had imprinted upon her like a baby bird and so had she been imprinted upon his hearts. What a sappy old man he sounded! But it was true. Oh Rassilion, was it ever true.

Just as he had felt it when the Master left, the second the Master stepped foot back on the _Valiant_ the Doctor knew. He could also feel the addition of Martha. They had traveled together long enough that her mental signature was familiar to him although now it was changed. A year traversing a world in the middle of an apocalypse would do that to a human. To anyone.

The Doctor's ever-present guilt flared up again at the thought of what Martha must have been through these past months. It was all his fault. He had snatched her from a promising future as a doctor and irreversibly changed her life for the worse. Sure, there had been some good times, meeting Shakespeare had been _brilliant,_ but he was convinced that she would have been better off if he had just left her alone once the hospital had been returned to its rightful position.

The elevator doors hissed open and out came Martha's family. The Doctor was extremely relieved to see all of them alive and uninjured. He had half-expected the Master to do terrible things to them, but, he supposed having to watch Martha, their loved one and only hope die a slow and painful death would probably be more than punishment enough for their rebellion.

The three of them glanced his way and he saw Tish shudder. He had almost forgotten his new, not-so-fabulous appearance. Francine gave him a small, tight smile and Clive nodded his way. The Doctor responded with a painful nod of his own bulbous head and watched as Toclafane and guards marched in, soon joined by the _Valiant_'s crew. Soon the Master appeared in the crowd and the Doctor wondered where Lucy was. She was rarely out of sight when the Master was present, especially during a production such as this.

Anxiety made the Doctor's stomach tight and he tried once again for Rose but couldn't find her. He reached out to check on the TARDIS and his hearts sank when he felt how weak she was becoming. Her power was draining fast under the demand of the Paradox Machine. She wouldn't last long, even if he fed her some of his regeneration energy.

The Master passed close by the Doctor's cage, giving him a sidelong wink as he did. The Doctor didn't need the psychic link to pick up on the confidence and smugness that the Master was exuding. He had no idea what was coming…but then again neither did the Doctor, not really.

The Master strode up the stairs and took his place on the balcony, smirking down at the scene below him. The Doctor turned as the elevator door opened again and his hearts skipped a beat.

Rose stood there, blinking against the harsh lights. Beside her was Jack and they were each escorted by four guards. The Doctor had the sudden urge to run over and fling their grubby paws off of his Rose. Nobody touched her…well except for him. He longed to lace his fingers through hers again; it had been so very long.

He watched as her eyes darted up to the Master and then took in the Jones family. He wished they would not glare at her so, no one deserved it less.

Jack was led out first and Rose made to go after him. The old jealously washed over the Doctor and he was surprised at himself. After all this time Rose and Jack's relationship still made him uncomfortable. What a ridiculous twit he was.

"Jack!" Rose called out after him and for a second the Doctor thought that maybe she had her memory back.

Hope that he hadn't allowed himself to feel in so long surged through the Doctor and he barely registered Jack's response, "It's alright Rose, just remember what we talked about."

_What did they talk about?_ The Doctor asked silently, studying the pair of them. He longed for Rose to turn to him, to see the look of recognition in her eye. For her to look at him how she used to. With love.

"_I love you."_

The memory flowed through his mind, never far away. All that time he had been unsure of her feelings and when he had finally been about to tell her he had wasted his time by saying "Quite right, too." He could kick himself! Had tried, repeatedly. If they ever got out of this…_when _they got out of this…he would put things right with her.

Then Rose turned to him and his hope vanished. She studied him much like she had before, figuring him out like an impossible riddle. He felt tears of disappointment sting his eyes but blinked them away, not allowing them to fall. The only bright side was that she appeared to be human, not the all-powerful being that she had been when she had last stood in this room. The Doctor would give anything to have his little pink and yellow companion back. She was strongly laced with Time now; the power bubbling just below the surface and it terrified him. Terrified and awed him.

"There's my pet," the Master called out to her and she walked forward. The Doctor's hackles rose at the term. His Rose was nobody's pet, she was the most independent, confident woman he had ever met and to see her reduced to the Master's plaything left a bad taste in his mouth. He watched as she reluctantly approached the staircase. He felt a flash of the Master's anger and proudly assumed that Rose had given him one of her classic Tyler glares. He had seen more than one alien species stop dead in their tracks at that one. "Come here," the Master growled and sensed a surge of psychic power that he was directing at Rose.

A guard cocked his gun which was aimed at Jack's head and it only took one look for Rose to give in. The Doctor wondered if Jack had explained his immortality, although, knowing Rose, she would do anything to avoid harm coming to anybody that she held dear.

With dread, the Doctor watched Rose go up the staircase towards the Master's outstretched hand, red dress trailing behind her. Part of his mind, the part that he had concealed so well when she was traveling with him, was noticing how long her hair was, how he could see the definition of muscles rippling through her body with every movement. She had changed. How long had it been since she had seen _him?_

He was glad to see Rose ignore the Master's hand but horrified at what happened next. The Doctor saw the Master glance his way with a rakish look, then grabbed Rose and kissed her violently. Forgetting himself, he tugged on the bars in rage and noticed Jack fling himself to Rose's rescue only to be bashed over the head with the gun.

Soon, but not soon enough, the Master pushed Rose back and she caught herself on the railing. The Doctor felt sick, and the nausea increased as the Master fed a channel of satisfaction and arousal through the link. The Doctor rarely felt vengeful, and never murderous, but at this gross violation of Rose's will both of those sensations and more filled him. With difficultly he composed himself and released his white-knuckled grip on the bars of his cage.

"Now then!" the Master shouted, his voice carrying across the room. "We have a very special guest on this very special day! Aren't you all just _dying_ to find out who it is?"

_Martha,_ the Doctor thought with a mixture of eagerness to see his friend and trepidation at what the Master had in store for her.

He caught Rose looking at him once again and tried to send a surge of comfort and…love, yes it was love, her way. Her eyes widened – maybe she had felt it but then a voice came over the coms, "Citizens of Earth, rejoice and observe."

Her attention and that of everyone in the room went to the opening elevator revealing Martha. She looked so…normal, so whole. The only sign of all that she had been through was the addition of twenty years' worth of pain and suffering that now weighed heavily in her eyes and on her mental signature.

Behind her were two guards that stood at least two heads taller than she but she faced the room with shoulders back. One of the guards shoved her forward and the Doctor made a mental note to give a tongue lashing to all of the guards who had manhandled his friends. An expert at tongue lashings, he.

The Doctor watched as Martha walked towards the Master. She looked first at her family who were all staring at her with looks of relief, love, and fear. When she passed by him he was struck by the pity in her eyes. It should be he who was saving her, not the other way around, but he knew in his hearts that she was more than capable of saving them. She would not have come back otherwise.

Their plan was simple. She was to spread hope across the world, telling their story and making sure that the human race did not give up. Everyone needed something to believe in, to root for. Humans were capable of amazing things when hope was in their hearts. If they had lost that hope…

As long as hope was alive there was a chance at defeating the Master. Until Rose had arrived the Doctor had not known what would happen when Martha returned. Then again, when did he ever have a real plan? A part of him had assumed that the brilliant minds of Jack, Martha, and himself would figure _something_ out but the addition of Rose suddenly made his brain go into overdrive.

He had seen her power, both here and on Satellite 5. If he could just break the Master's hold on her…

The Doctor's teeth ground as the Master wrapped his arm around Rose and drew her close. "Your teleport device," he said to Martha, "In case you thought I'd forgotten."

_Damn_ the Doctor thought. He _had_ hoped that the Master would forget about it, if Martha still had it in her possession. At least then one of them had a chance of making it out alive. Martha tossed the teleport to the Master, which he caught with deft fingers. He made Martha kneel before him, in a humiliating display of her helplessness.

With surprise the Doctor felt Rose's power flare up, so briefly that he almost missed it. She was testing her boundaries while the Master was distracted. _Good girl_, he thought.

"Down below the fleet is ready to launch," the Master said with a flourish of that cursed screwdriver. "Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe." The Doctor watched his every movement as he went to a com on the wall and pressed a button, "Are we ready?"

"The fleet awaits your signal, rejoice!" the usual voice from the speakers announced.

If he could just get close enough to Rose to touch her…but how could he? He was trapped in this ridiculous cage like a parrot with no way out. He knew the only escape would be with the Master's laser screwdriver and that as protected by the isomorphic controls. The only one who could give the Doctor his freedom was the only one who was least likely to do it. If Rose would just come over here…

Could he do that to her? Unleash the full power of the Bad Wolf? He had unwittingly, and wittingly, sacrificed companions before. Their deaths haunted a special, dark corner of his mind every second of his life. Could he risk Rose burning under the force of the Time Vortex if it meant saving the Earth? Saving the universe? The notion was unthinkable but it still played out in his mind. All he had to do was touch her and she would be free.

_Free to burn. Free to die for you, _he thought bitterly.

"Three minutes to align the black hole converters," he heard the Master say. The Doctor noticed the clock ticking down from 180 seconds, each one sending a bolt of panic through his hearts. The Master addressed Rose with a wide grin, "We're going to need you for this one my darling."

The Doctor didn't need the Master to explain what was going to happen, he knew him too well for that. But knowing didn't stop the horror he felt. Didn't stop the inevitable play by play as his Time Sense formed the possible event in his mind.

The Master unleashing Rose. Golden light spilling out of her eyes and radiating off of her body. Her being unable to fight the Master's control over her. Rose turning to Martha at the Master's command. Tears streaming down Rose's face as she struggled and failed to not do what the Master made her do. Martha's head being thrown back in pain as Rose's hand shot out and enveloped both of them. Martha's body fading into the Time Vortex-

The Doctor inhaled sharply and shook the scenario out of his head. No. It would not happen. He would fix this. He was the Doctor, damnit, and he _would fix this._

"The Doctor's poor TARDIS is dying I'm afraid, but that's why I have you, my bad, bad little wolf," the Master said, bringing the Doctor back to present. He had known that the TARDIS was fading, and her pain was his, such was their connection. He was weak and she was weaker, all of the energy being sucked out of her by the Paradox Machine. If his TARDIS died- _No_, he thought once again. They may be in an impossible situation, perhaps the most impossible situation yet, but impossible was what he did.

But if the TARDIS died, and along with her, the Paradox Machine, then the Master could only mean that he would use Rose to channel the Paradox. He was truly insane…The Doctor had not wanted to allow himself to see just how far gone the Master was, but this – this was undeniable, even to him, the King of Denial.

The Master whispered something to Rose and the Doctor strained uselessly to hear. Whatever he had said had put fear into her and the Doctor felt a bolt of her fear stab through him. "Counting down!" the Master said, "I never could resist a ticking clock. MY CHILDREN, ARE YOU READY?" he yelled suddenly and the Doctor saw the Jones family flinch instinctively. When the Master yelled, people usually got hurt.

The Toclafane could be heard chanting over the coms, ""We will fly and blaze and slice. We will fly and blaze and slice…"

"The child, Martha Jones will die...at the hands of my new queen," the Master said, and once again the Doctor's blood boiled. _His_ queen? The Master continued, "Our first blood. Any last words? No?"

All the Doctor could see of Martha was her back but he was fairly certain that he could picture the look of defiance that she no doubt bore. She had given him that stubborn look many times.

His eyes were drawn to Rose and he could see the realization come to her that the Master intended to have _her_ kill Martha. The Master was addressing the Doctor now but the Doctor did not take his eyes off of Rose, "Such a disappointment, this one. In days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the _Time Vortex_. This one is useless!"

_Oh Rose, remember!_ he thought, staring at her intently. She looked at him, bewildered. Was it possible that she could hear him? Could feel him?

The Doctor missed what the Master said next but heard her clear, strong voice ring out through the room flowing through his ears like a song, "You will not get away with this." _That's my girl._

The Master placed his fingers upon Rose's temples and the Doctor knew the time was almost upon them. He had to get a message to Martha, to warn her, prepare her; to tell her the two words that she would need if he never got the chance to say them. It was a slim chance that just Martha's voice could put the power behind those words that Rose needed to break free, but the Doctor could feel the TARDIS fading. They all needed the TARDIS's power as well. There was no time for the Time Lord.

Rose's consciousness flared into existence and the Doctor welcomed it. The Master had released her just enough that her Time Sense radiated out, visible to his eyes, tangible to his mind. He had to remind himself that she was now lethal, but the awe he felt for this mortal-turned-goddess battled with his sense of doom.

"Now Rose," the Master said, "I have given you just enough of your power back that you should be able to _destroy_ the woman you see below you, kneeling so pathetically. Appropriate stance, really, for a subject to meet her queen. Destroy Martha Jones or witness the evisceration of everyone you see here."

So that was what the Master had resorted to. He could not control her body or soul and so had to threaten the lives of the people around her. What better way to get Rose Tyler to obey but to play on her overpowering instincts to protect?

Rose started down the steps and stopped - the turmoil within her obvious to the Doctor even without the telepathic link. He knew her well enough, even after all this time, to see that.

He knew it was now or never, he had to try to break into Martha's head without the ease of touch. He went deep within himself, blocking out the world around him except for the glimmering light that indicated Martha's consciousness. It took a great effort not to be distracted by the golden aura that was Rose's mind, but he had to stay focused, for all of them.

"_Martha," he thought towards his companion and, although he knew that she could not respond, he could sense that she could hear him. "Martha, if I fail, you must tell her. You must tell Rose these two words. Bad Wolf. If nothing else you must touch her and say those two words. Our lives depend on it."_

His strength gave out and he was booted forcefully from Martha's mind. He saw her head begin to swivel towards him and then stop. She had gotten the message.

The countdown continued as Rose stared down at Martha's kneeling figure, tension radiated from everyone in the room.

Suddenly Martha began to laugh.

The plan was in motion.

The Master said something about a new order of Time Lords and he half-listened as Martha teased the Master about the ridiculous notion of the gun, most of his attention on Rose and marking the positions of everyone around the room. He looked at Jack and saw that he was ready to spring into action. So close.

It was his cue, "As if I would ask her to kill," he said, once again surprised by the voice coming out of his mouth.

Martha chimed in again, explaining to the Master just how oblivious he had been in the way only Martha Jones could. The Doctor's focus however, was on Jack and Martha's father as he saw them attack in unison. Their guards doubled over from the sudden, harsh blows and chaos erupted all around the Doctor. He wanted to leap into the fray, do what he did best, but he was trapped in this god-forsaken-cage. Useless.

The rest of the Jones family attacked their captors with a viciousness that he had not known they were capable of. Guards turned on guards and Toclafane, loyalty only went so far and it was obvious that the Master had lost control over some of his men as they took the opportunity for rebellion.

His hearts leapt into his throat as he saw Rose flee down the stairs and run straight towards him. The blood was high in her cheeks and it reminded her of the myriad of other times that they had run for their lives. Unable to control her momentum, she crashed into the cage and he was flung against the back side of it. He winced as pain lanced through him but quickly regained his footing and jumped to the other side to be closer to her.

"Rose-" he started but she cut him off.

"Don't worry, I'll get you out of here!" she said and began spinning the cage around, he started to run like a gerbil in a wheel to stay in front of her as she searched for the lock. He knew what she would find.

"I think you'll be needing this," the Master said, appearing behind her. Rose turned her back to the Doctor and he saw that she was protecting him.

The Master continued talking but the Doctor was concentrating on Jack as the man got up and made to tackle the Master. He cut him off mid-roar and the two of them crashed to the ground, the laser screwdriver flying out of the Master's hand.

Jack shouted for Rose to get the screwdriver, which she did.

"It has isomorphic controls, Rose," the he said sadly when Rose's attempts to use it failed. "Leave me! Get out of here; you're our only hope now!" It killed him to send her away again but he had to. This situation had escalated too quickly and was now so far out of control.

"No," she cried and he saw tears welling in her eyes, falling down her flushed cheeks. Oh how he hated to see her cry.

A shot shattered the moment and they both looked to the source. Jack laid dead upon the floor, a guard's bullet though his skull. The Doctor knew that Jack would return, but the sight was still sickening. What was more sickening, however, was when the Master, helped by the guard, got to his feet and snatched away the gun. The Doctor let out a cry that died in his throat as the Master shot the guard point-blank.

He reached out with his mind toward the Master but encountered only darkness. His friend, his nemesis, was gone, replaced by a soulless monster.

"You. Are. MINE!" he roared and began his approach. The Doctor knew he had no more time.

Gently, he reached out and ran his fingers through a lock of Rose's long, blonde hair. He luxuriated in it for a fraction of a second before tugging on it, getting her attention. Not taking her eyes off of the Master she leaned back, allowing him to say the two words that he knew might destroy her and him with her.

"Bad Wolf," he whispered and, through their contact, felt the TARDIS give her dying breath to Rose. There was an explosion of golden light in his head from his physical contact with her as the Bad Wolf was unleashed inside of her. He saw what she saw, memories from her perspective and his. Feelings, words, images, it overwhelmed him.

Suddenly, he was jerked forward as a black hole of power erupted from Rose's body.

He watched as everyone in the room was sucked forward, towards her. Skirmishes ended as the men clung to each other, to anything that would keep them in place but were inevitably pulled in by her power; even the Doctor was slammed up against the bars, close enough to touch her prone figure.

Time stood still.

Only the Time Lords were able to register what was happening. The Doctor wiped blood out of his eyes from a gash in his head and surveyed the room in the brief seconds he had. Paper was flying, bits of equipment, men, women, weapons, chairs; nothing was immune to the vacuum that the Bad Wolf's return had created. Suddenly time sped forward and another wave of power detonated from Rose's body. Polarity - gravity - momentum was reversed as everyone and everything was flung backwards, away from her.

Then a giant halo of golden power flew out from her, carrying with it all in the room. The Doctor had to shield his eyes to look at her, so overwhelming was the light that came off of her in waves.

Rose was gone.

The Bad Wolf was here.

**A/N: Okay. I know, I know you are all shaking your fists at the air cursing the name Lady Ten but my cliffhangers are for your own good! They give you something to look forward to right? RIGHT? I think this situation may be resolved in the next two chapters. Not the story, just the situation. I don't want to cheat you and cut it down so bear with me with cliffhangers and such. I promise to be nice in the end, there how's that? I detest unhappy endings and I would never write one. Is that a good enough promise to keep you reading? Or am I lying again? *cue suspenseful music* **

**No, but really, there WILL be a kiss in the next chapter so until next time my lovelies, I wish romantic, exciting Ten dreams for each and every one of you and all the candy and chips you desire!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hello my darlings! You guys are just the most amazing, wonderful, best people in the world! Thank you so much to: Rozablood, Zaknafein (yes I do watch Sherlock, love it so much), Matron Malice, Names Have Power, Severus Snape, FloraFaveXNara-Wire, AvenJackel, OnceadiaryintheTARDIS, LadaHathaway, Pig-Rabbit-Suk (I'm afraid the cliffhangers don't end dear), JollyRoger1, Suuki-Aldrea, Whitepurity, Anonymous, RoseKatnissWeasley7, TitanLover3353, SittingOnTheEdgeOfTheUnivers e, PirategirlRobin, LatherTheBloodOnYourHandsRom eo, Chris4, (HUUUNGRRRYYYY), hungrywhovianpotterhead, and 3 guests for your STUPENDOUS reviews! **

**Okay now, here's the deal. You are all going to hate me at the end of this chapter. Each and every one of you. I am actually very scared to post this. BUT! 1. This story has a happy ending. A perfectly, happy, wonderful ending. 2. I have the next chapter written so if I get 20 reviews, hell, how about 25? you guys get the next chapter pronto. Oh and 3. Yes it is another cliffhanger, I can't help it. They don't start out that way but I have to divide the story somewhere and these are the only places that make sense. **

**Do you still love me?**

**You might after the TWO KISSES I give you in this chapter. Yep, I said it, TWO. So you're welcome.**

**And I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry.**

_Then a giant halo of golden power flew out from her, carrying with it all in the room. The Doctor had to shield his eyes to look at her, so overwhelming was the light that came off of her in waves._

_Rose was gone._

_The Bad Wolf was here._

Jack gasped to life, all of the pain of being shot in the head returning to him before fading away. He could hear the sounds of the battle going on around him and quickly sat up. His hand bumped into something and he saw it was the guard who had shot him, now with a bullet through his own body. Jack recoiled and got to his feet. It took him a moment to focus his eyes on the chaos, but almost immediately his gaze fixed on the standoff between Rose and the Master.

Rose had positioned herself between the Time Lords, shielding the Doctor's cage with her body. A look of fierce determination was planted firmly on her face, her eyes showing no hint of fear. Jack had seen that look on Rose's face before and knew it meant trouble for whoever that look was directed at.

Jack was about to stride forward and take the Master out from behind when he saw the Doctor. The small creature was not looking at the Master, he was looking up at Rose with an expression of such great sadness that it made Jack stop short without knowing why. He saw a tiny hand lace its way through Rose's long blonde hair, saw as she leaned back. The Doctor closed his eyes and whispered something in Rose's ear.

The effect was immediate. Jack had time to register the sight of Rose's body being consumed by golden light before he was thrown forward, towards her, along with everything else in the room. People, equipment, furniture, they all were lifted and sucked in the same direction.

Jack knew what was happening – knew what the Doctor must have done, but had not time to do anything about it. He paused in his impromptu journey through the air as time stood still for a fraction of a second. He had a moment to see the terror in one of the guard's faces before an enormous supernova of power slammed into him like a brick wall. Time resumed all at once as he was thrown back into the large table, the air being knocked out of him in a rush.

The entire room was filled with a white-hot light, blinding Jack as he gasped for breath. The power in around him was making his skin prickle, as if the entire room was electrified. The smell of metal and heat and something he could not identify was all around him.

The Doctor had done it.

He had released the Bad Wolf.

The rest of Jack's senses began to return and he could hear cries and crashes coming from all directions. He tried to stand and eventually succeeded, turning in the direction in which he thought Rose might be. The light was beginning to fade and he could see outlines of figures, only one of which was still standing.

"Rose-" he choked, hardly daring to believe what he was seeing.

She was standing exactly where she had been before the explosion, arms slightly outstretched, head thrown back. Her body looked like it was lit from within, wisps of golden energy coming off of her, entwining with anything they came into contact with. Her dress hung off of her in tatters, the ends of the fabric lifting and falling, her hair floating out from her body as if she was submerged in water. She dropped her head down and Jack's jaw went slack as he took in the light pouring from her eyes.

This was not Rose.

For the first time he understood what sort of power had made him immortal. This…Bad Wolf…this Goddess of Time that stood before him was like nothing he ever could have imagined. He tried to take a step towards her but found himself unable to move. It was not from shock, he was frozen in place.

Jack pushed against the invisible barriers and succeeded in forcing his arm out slightly and oh so slowly. It felt as if the air around him had become thick, so thick that any movement took great effort to make. He had felt this sensation before, in dreams, but this was no dream.

His eyes seemed to be able to work normally, and he took in the sights around him. He first noticed a chair falling downwards in slow motion, and then his focus shifted to a person colliding with the floor at an excruciatingly slow pace. A crystal carafe was in the process of shattering against one of the far walls, and Jack could see the cracks ripping through it, see as one shard, then another inched their way away from the object as a whole as amber liquid bubbled outwards.

Jack thought it was fairly safe to assume that time itself had been slowed, that _she _was controlling it as she awakened. As bizarrely fascinating as the slow-motion chaos and destruction was, he remembered the one who was responsible for all of this and sought the bastard out. It did not take him long to find him.

The Master lay sprawled at Rose - the Bad Wolf's feet, shielding his eyes from the light that came off of the slim figure. He seemed to be as paralyzed as Jack was. Jack only wished that she would unfreeze him so that he could take out the Time Lord once and for all, but, alas, he remained trapped in the barriers of time.

The Bad Wolf was the only one moving at a somewhat normal pace as she looked around the room. Her glance fell down towards the Master but her face remained blank. She seemed to find him beneath her notice, for she turned her back upon the figure, fixing her attention instead upon the creature in the cage behind her.

She took two steps to the side, revealing the Doctor's shrunken body, and as Jack looked on, she opened the door to the cage with a slow wave of her hand.

The Bad Wolf leaned forward, extending glowing hands into the cage and wrapping them around the Doctor. She lifted him carefully through the opening, and turned away from the cage, her hair traveling through the air behind her in a slow, golden arch.

"My Doctor," she said in a quiet, ethereal voice, and Jack could see the Doctor's enormous saucer eyes gazing up at the unearthly creature that held him with wonder and sadness. He seemed to be able to move at the same pace as her, for he reached one small hand towards her shimmering face and placed it upon the golden skin of her cheek.

Slowly, painfully slow, the Bad Wolf lifted the Doctor towards her, simultaneously lowering her head.

Their lips met.

?*?*?*?

The Doctor dropped his arm and squinted against the golden light that poured from the figure that stood before him. He could sense that time was not in its proper place - that it was slowing at a steady rate until, it seemed, everything was nearly frozen. Nearly, except him and her.

He didn't see Jack getting to his feet, didn't see the Master laying at hers. He could only see the Bad Wolf as she came to life and slowly turned to him.

She held all of time within her eyes and it came off of her in tendrils of sparkling, glowing mist. In all of his long life he had never seen anything like her. She was the Vortex incarnate, a Goddess of Time. Not even on Satellite 5 had she been this powerful and his terror was only rivaled by his awe.

Unable to speak, he got to his feet, fighting against the near stand-still that she had placed on the rest of the room. In a distant corner of his mind he wondered if it might not just be this room. From the sheer power he could feel coming from her, he was willing to bet that the entire planet was frozen and under her control.

Was there any of his Rose left inside of this being? She was looking at him with such a vacant expression, as if she was seeing everything and nothing at the same time.

Hope flickered to life within him as her eyes fell upon him, those golden windows into the Vortex, hiding away from him the dark brown eyes that he had loved so much. She rounded the cage to the small door and, with a wave of her hand, it drifted open.

The Doctor watched her with bated breath as she reached into the cage for him, wisps of her energy dancing in towards him in front of her fingers. His hearts hammered away as she gently placed her hands underneath his arms, like one would a small child, and lifted him out of his prison.

He knew it was ridiculous, that now was most certainly not the time, but he couldn't help how his entire body sang at the contact between him, rejoiced at the sensation of her hands once again upon him.

Free from his cage, legs dangling beneath him, the Doctor looked up at the Bad Wolf who held him before her. He tried to establish a psychic connection with her but was met by a wall of golden light. Fear snaked its way through him, fighting with his joy, as he realized that he could not feel Rose at all. She was nowhere that he could reach. Could it be that, in turning her into the Bad Wolf, that he had sacrificed her once and for all?

He knew that there had been a possibility of that before he had whispered those fateful words into her ear, before the TARDIS had filled Rose with the last of her energy, but he hadn't wanted to truly believe that it would come to pass. But now, held in the hands that he adored, gazing into the face that was simultaneously her and not hers, he was terrified that Rose, his pink and yellow, mortal, oh so human love of his lives, was gone.

But then she spoke, her words ringing like bells in his mind.

"My Doctor."

Tears welled in his too-large eyes, the pain of all of this too much for him to bear. He reached out one small, wrinkled hand, so unworthy of touching her yet unable to stop himself. Electricity and power flooded his body as he placed his hand gently upon her cheek and tears tickled their way down his face.

Then she was lifting him towards her and tilting her head.

This was a reversal of the last time they had stood like this, Time Lord and Bad Wolf. _"I think you need a doctor."_ Then, it had been her who had needed saving, and he had gladly died to do it. Would always die to save her. But now, now he was the one who needed saving.

His eyes found hers and for a moment he thought he saw a glimmer of Rose behind the Wolf, and then her lips touched his.

The effect was immediate.

Power coursed through their connection and he felt himself being filled by the time energy that inhabited her body. With eyes closed, he felt his legs lengthening, arms extending, felt the hair growing out of his head. He felt the reversal of time.

His feet touched the floor, yet he did not break their kiss, instead wrapping his now long, strong arms around her slight body and pulling her closer, digging one hand into her impossibly soft hair, the other gliding down her back to the dangerously low place where her dress and skin met and pressed his body flush against hers.

He could feel every point of contact between them and his body hummed with an intoxicating euphoria as his hearts pounded out a double rhythm. Her mouth was warm and soft against his and opened at his bidding, bringing them even closer together as their tongues fought for dominance. Goosebumps made their way down his neck as one of her hands ran up the back of his head, fingernails grazing their way through his hair, her other hand gripping his lapel. They poured into one another everything they had, every memory, every emotion, every ounce of love, pain, guilt – they shared it all. The Bad Wolf was not gone, he could feel her under the surface, but his Rose was the one who was present and, oh Rassillion, how he had missed her!

All too soon she pulled away and he caught a last flash of his Rose before the Bad Wolf came forward and pushed her back and out of his reach.

She looked at him for a long moment with eyes that he did not recognize then turned her attention to the Master who was still lying upon the floor, captured by the slight time-lock she had placed upon the entire planet.

Sadness swept through the Doctor but he would think of that later. He was restored! With wonder he looked down at his hands, the ones that he knew. His clever, capable hands that would save this planet. The Bad Wolf must have given him more than just his body back because he surged with energy, his blood coursed with time and tendrils of it drifted off from him, blue instead of her gold.

He was back!

The Doctor felt it as the Bad Wolf restored time to its normal pace, the whole room erupting with crashes and shouts as people and objects abruptly ended their journeys through the air. He saw Jack spring forward, an enormous grin on his face, saw the Master snatch his laser screwdriver and scramble to his feet, saw Martha, brilliant Martha, run to embrace her family. He was relieved to see that they were all still alive, that Clive was still alive after the blow he had received.

More people came in through the doors and Toclafane materialized all over the room. The _Valiant _rocked slightly and the crew dove to their positions to regain control of the ship. The Doctor thought he saw a flash of red and thought it might be Lucy, but his attention was directed back at the Master.

The Doctor realized that all of it, the supernova, the kiss, his restoration - every recent event must have taken place in in under a minute, maybe two. The Master gaped at the Doctor's young body with astonished rage and he leveled the screwdriver at him.

"No!" he shouted, "No, it's not fair!"

"You have committed the most atrocious crime the universe has ever seen," the Bad Wolf said, her quiet voice somehow magnified to reach throughout the room for everyone stopped to watch. "You will answer for these crimes, Master."

"No! I created you! You will obey me!" he declared again, pathetically, the realization of the situation hitting him as the Doctor looked on.

"I am the Bad Wolf," she said, this time even louder, "I create myself." A small wave of energy came off of her, forcing the Master to take a step back and a sudden wind picked up, whipping itself around the room. The human witnesses shrank away from scene but looked on, unable to turn away. "You mean nothing, _are_ nothing, I can erase you from all of time and space, forever."

She started toward the Master who made to shoot his laser screwdriver at her but the beam stopped short as she brought up a hand to halt it. The Doctor watched, fascinated, terrified, as the laser beam retracted back into the screwdriver, turning the device red hot. There was a sizzling sound and the Master gave a shout of pain, dropping the now smoking weapon and retreating from her until his back hit the wall and he cowered down, hands covering his head. Defeated.

Suddenly, the Doctor registered her words and leapt forward, grabbing her arm. She was going to destroy the Master just as she had destroyed the Daleks. He had done nothing before, only watched as his immortal nemeses, the bane of his existence had vanished into clouds of golden dust. He had been unwilling to stop her from doing what he had wished so many times that he could do himself. But this…

The Master was the last Time Lord besides himself. Even after all he had done, all the pain, suffering, murder, torture, even after all of that, he could not let the Bad Wolf erase him.

So, ignoring the wind that whipped her hair like a lash around her face and tugged at his clothing, he gripped her arm and stepped up beside her, facing not the Master, but the Wolf.

"Please," was all he said, quiet enough so only she could hear him. She turned to look at him, eyes exuding the Vortex, concealing from him any sign that Rose was still within. She studied his face, what she was looking for, he was unsure, and then gave one nod of her head before stepping back.

Relief flooded the Doctor and he gazed at her a moment longer before striding over to the Master. He still relished the feeling of his long legs, the ease with which he now moved, but pushed that all aside to address the problem cowering at his feet.

Pity filled him, and regret for his poor, mad, former friend and he knelt down and did what no one expected. He embraced the sobbing body of the other Time Lord.

"I forgive you," he said, putting all the suffering and loneliness he had endured since the destruction of Gallifrey through their mental connection.

Suddenly the Master stopped sobbing and said, "My children!"

"Protect the paradox! Protect the paradox!" the Toclafane in the room began to chant and began to swarm the Bad Wolf. More Toclafane appeared out of thin air and through the doors, joining the others.

"Protect the paradox!"

"Protect the paradox!"

The Doctor shoved the Master away, making to go to the Bad Wolf, but he was stopped short by the multitude of Toclafane that surrounded her, blades and guns extended. He saw Jack run towards her as well, but then changed course to stand by the Doctor's side.

Laughter erupted behind the Doctor and he whirled around in time to see the Master extract Martha's teleport device from his pocket.

"No!" he shouted and dove forward to wrestle it from the Master's grip but he was too late and he felt the pull of the teleport. His last glimpse was of Toclafane disappearing into gold dust one by one, only to be replaced by four more as the Bad Wolf fought them off.

When they arrived at their destination, the Doctor was thrown to the rocky ground. They were outside, on Earth. He got to his feet and saw the Master looking out over a terrifying field of rockets.

"Now it ends, Doctor," he shouted, arms outstretched. "Now, it ends!" A deafening alarm begin to sound as smoke rose from the bases of each giant rocket.

"We've got control of the _Valiant_, you can't launch," the Doctor said with certainty that he did not feel.

"But don't you see?" the Master asked, turning to face the Doctor. "Don't you see? The TARDIS is _dead_, the paradox falls upon _her_. The Bad Wolf!" He spat the name with venom and anger. The Doctor did see, yes he saw now. It would have been easy to destroy the Paradox Machine inside of the TARDIS, all he had to do was rip out the wires and equipment that the Master had installed. However, with the Paradox now being supported by Rose, by the Bad Wolf…

"Ah, now I see you are getting it," the Master said, gleefully. "Yes, Doctor, to save this planet, you have to destroy the woman you love."

Dread coursed through the Doctor, his mind running at a million bits per second trying to devise a plan, trying to think of any alternatives. There were none.

To end the Paradox and restore the world…he would have to sacrifice Rose. She was still in there; _she_ had been the one who had kissed him.

Could he kill Rose?

_NO!_ His hearts screamed in unison. He had to find a way past this.

"You still cannot launch without the _Valiant_," he said, trying to buy himself some time.

"Oh, but I've got this," the Master said, holding up a small square device. "Black hole converter inside every ship. If I can't have this world, Doctor, then neither can you. We shall stand upon this Earth, together, as it burns!"

The Doctor's mind was racing and he was fighting hard to conceal the panic that was threatening to overcome him.

"Weapon after weapon after weapon," the Doctor said, approaching the other Time Lord as he would a wild animal. "All you do is talk and talk and talk. But over all these years…and all these disasters, I've always had the greatest secret of them all. I _know_ you. Explode those ships, you kill yourself. That's the one thing you can never do." He held out his hand, hoping beyond hope for the Master to see reason. "Give that to me."

The Master glared at him, the gears ticking away in his head. The Doctor remained where he was, hand out. With a grimace of defeat, the Master slapped the device into the Doctor's waiting hand.

"This still doesn't solve the little problem of the paradox," the Master said smugly, struggling to maintain the upper hand.

He was right. Why did he have to be right? The Doctor could sacrifice Rose to save the world, or let the Earth recover from all of the horrors it had endured under the Master's reign. They could do it, humans were amazing, but time was _wrong._ This was never meant to happen and if the paradox stayed in place reality would begin ripping itself apart. The weight of the paradox would eventually destroy her as well. He had to get back to the ship. Had to get back to her.

He dove for the Master, tackling him to the ground, both wrestling for control of the teleport. Finally, the Doctor got his hand on it and pressed the button. The sickening pull of the teleport was short-lived and instantaneously they were back on board.

The Bad Wolf was still surrounded by Toclafane, her attempts at destroying them useless as each one was replaced by more and more, all rushing to defend her against potential threats. She must already be weakening under the strain of the paradox because if she had all of her strength the Doctor was sure she would wipe them all out in one fell swoop. Jack was shooting them down with a gun that he had obtained from the guards, and others were fighting them as well but to no avail.

The Toclafane were winning, he could see that right away. The Doctor swept up a metal bar that had been lying amongst the wreckage and began battering his way into the swarm towards the Bad Wolf. Toclafane blades sliced his suit but none landed damaging blows. He suspected that they were still under orders from the Master not to kill him and he took advantage of this as he fought to her side. He came up short as her glowing hand rose to meet him, she had been about to destroy him but directed the power towards another group of Toclafane.

He opened his mouth to speak but suddenly she was in his mind.

"_I know, Doctor."_

"_There has to be another way. Surely there is another way!"_

"_For the paradox to end, so must the Bad Wolf."_

"_No! I cannot lose you again! I won't survive it!"_

"_You will survive. You must. You are the savior of worlds, the Lonely God. You have so much to do. Time and space can go on without Rose Tyler, without the Bad Wolf, but it cannot without you."_

"_I will not let you do this."_

Ignoring the chaos around them, ignoring the swarm of Toclafane, the Bad Wolf reached out a hand and placed it upon his cheek.

"_One last goodbye, my Doctor."_

Suddenly it was Rose's eyes staring back at him and tears were beginning to stream down her face. The Doctor placed his hand over the one on his cheek and put his other upon hers, drawing her closer until their foreheads were touching. It was her, it was his Rose. She smiled up at him through her tears, just as she had during their last goodbye at Bad Wolf Bay.

"Rose," he said out loud, the sound coming out rough as it strained through his tight throat for tears were spilling out of his eyes as well.

"This is how it has to be, Doctor," Rose said, wiping one of his tears away with her thumb. "The beast said I would die in battle…and here we are. I always thought it was Canary Warf but it's this. It has always been this."

"No, I can't let you do this, Rose, we can think of something! You and me, the stuff of legends…"

She huffed out a little laugh, "Shiver and Shake."

She was crying now, and the sight sent daggers through him.

"I'm so glad I got to see you again, before…before-"

"Rose-"

"No! Doctor, this is the only way, I saw it when I was…_her._ I can still see _everything_ and this is the way it has to be. If I have to die to save the planet…then that is a good death." She let out a little sob, her emotion breaking through the wall of strength she was trying so hard to keep up. "You have to let me do this…but before I do. Please, Doctor. When I stood on that beach, on the worst day of my life, what was the last thing you said to me?"

The Doctor looked down at Rose, his beautiful, amazing Rose, and swallowed, "I said, 'Rose Tyler.'"

More tears came then, brought on by the excruciating memory. "Yeah? And how was that sentence gonna end?"

The Doctor knew exactly how that sentence was going to end. For the first time in his impossibly long life he was going to say those words. And then the black hole energy disappeared and he was cut short to live a life of regret, doomed to always punish himself for not saying what so very much needed to be said.

Golden light was still cascading off of her, wrapping its way up his arms and causing her skin to glow. Nearly a thousand years of pain and guilt came to a head within him as he looked down up on the woman that he loved more than anything else in the entirety of time and space. He drew her closer, cupping her damp cheeks in his hands as she gazed up at him with the fate of the entire world resting upon her small, mortal shoulders.

He took a breath, and said what he had wanted to say since he first grabbed her hand and said, "Run".

"Rose Tyler, I love you."

Her hands latched onto his lapels and drew him down, their lips coming together in their second, and last, kiss. He could taste her tears and wrapped his arms around her, hand tangling in her hair, pressing her as close as possible to him in an attempt to never, ever have to let her go.

And then she was gone.

There was an enormous burst of power, all of time exploding out from the body that he had held in his hands, rocking the ship and sending everyone flying backwards. Toclafane disappeared in clouds of golden dust and the Doctor could sense time reversing. But he didn't care. All he cared about was his now empty arms. She had been right there, and then her atoms dissolved into gold. He had tried so hard to hang onto her, but his hands met nothing but air as the cloud of golden particles that had been the center of his universe evaporated into the air.

_I love you_. The words came through his mind as faint as a breeze and then they were gone.

She was gone.

Mayhem was erupting all around him as everyone found something to grab onto as the past year rewound itself.

It would be as if none of this had ever happened.

As if she had never been here.

He felt the TARDIS burst back into life, her song of joy quickly replaced by one of devastating sadness at the loss of her favorite companion. Rose's last gift to him. He remained rooted to the spot, willing the destruction of the paradox to take him too, but when the motion stopped and he could taste last year upon his tongue, he was still there. Was still all right.

He was always all right.

**A/N: Don't kill me! Like I said, there's a happy ending and another chapter waiting for you after 20-25 reviews. PLUS you got two kisses, that counts for something right? …Okay maybe not after that mean, evil thing I did there but hang in there my lovelies, for good things are on the way. **

**Xx Lady Ten**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: HOLY CRAPOLA 50 REVIEWS?! I left my house for 3 hours and all of a sudden my inbox is flooded with all over your amazing reviews! You guys are the best. THE BEST I SAY! I just walked in the door and sat down so here, as promised, the second part, and the beginning of the happy ending! You guys are great : ) Thank you so much to: casualmoose,RoseKatnissWeasley7, atalanta563, Barefoot Beach Bum, Emelhi, Jessiexzx, ignitedsoul, Caskett54 (SSSHHHH you'll blow my cover!), JollyRoger1, Princesscupcakes, Futyra, gabbygirl87, Rose Tyler (Just the thought of Doomsday on repeat makes my heart shrivel up and die), Amber Forest, OnyxDay, , monicamomomo, FloraFaveXNara, AvenJackel, ILoveYou, LatherTheBloodOnYourHands, hellkat121, WhiteTrees, Pig-Rabbit-Suk, hungrywhovianpotterhead, OTHCharmfan, LadaHathaway, AnimeOtakuBara, Ravenlupa the DragonSage84, Perminatly Lost in Thought, Tardis Holmes, Emma, ishouldbedoinghomework, Acoustic Dancer, DreamIntoTheOcean, Suuki-Aldrea, DislikeBangel, ladyamadaun, NoPondInTheForest, SinginginThirds, Alaina N. McCoy, Toolazytologin (thank you for not being too lazy to review!), Doctor-Who-Merlin-Sg1, and a few anonymous guests. WOW WOW WOW!**

"The paradox is broken. We've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past 8:00 in the morning," the Doctor said, looking about him, shutting down the emotional part of himself, triple, no quadruple, deadlocking it behind impenetrable walls. The devastation was too great and now there was an enormous, raw, gaping hole within himself that, if he thought about it for even a moment, would destroy him utterly. No, he could allow himself to succumb to that later. Now he had to make her sacrifice worth it.

?*?*?*?*?

Jack struggled to his feet, unwilling to believe what he had just witnessed. Rose was gone.

But she couldn't just be _gone_. The Doctor would never let that happen. _He_ would never let that happen. So then where was she?

The paradox had been broken and Rose Tyler was gone.

The Doctor was standing exactly where he had when he had held Rose in his arms. How could he be so calm about this? Anger flooded Jack, battling with his unwillingness to believe what he knew to be true.

"Doctor, wha-" he started to demand but was cut off as the Doctor whirled about to face him.

"Jack. Don't," the Doctor said and if Jack had been a lesser man, he would be cowering in a corner at the sight of the Doctor's face. The full fury of the Oncoming Storm was staring back at him, rage, pain, hate, sorrow all etched into his timeless face. Jack wanted to argue, to demand where Rose had gone, but he kept his mouth shut. "Go figure out what is going on down there," the Doctor said and turned away from Jack, striding with purpose towards the Master.

Despite himself, Jack obeyed, running over to the coms, helping Martha up along the way.

"Jack, what the hell just happened?" Martha asked breathlessly as Jack dragged her towards the communications equipment, struggling to look over her shoulder at the Doctor's retreating figure.

"We did it," Jack said, quietly, without any joy whatsoever. He was fighting hard against the feeling that he had just seen Rose Tyler die. Die to save them all. If he allowed himself to accept that fact he thought he just might try to rip the Master's hearts out with his bare hand. But that was the Doctor's job, so he followed his orders and opened up the communications lines.

"But what _was_ that Jack? Was that Rose Tyler? The Doctor's Rose? Where did she go, I don't unders-"

Jack turned to face Martha, cutting her off, "Yes, Martha, that was Rose Tyler. Yes, the Doctor's Rose, and mine also, and she IS GONE!" He shouted the last words at her and regretted doing so immediately. It wasn't Martha's fault, none of this was her fault, but he needed _something_ to blame this on, something to take his rage out on, and she was right there. Martha stared at him with wide eyes, mouth snapping shut with an audible _click_.

He knew that he should apologize but instead he turned away from the stunned woman and focused on the coms.

There was a hiss and then a male voice came through the speakers, "This is UNIT Central. What's happened up there? We just saw the President assassinated!"

So the President had still been assassinated. What a shame. Jack could not bring himself to care about that at the moment. He had a Time Lord to kill.

"But this is great!" Martha said to the room at large, and Jack turned to look at her. "You see? Just after the President was killed, but just before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal. Planet Earth restored. None of it happened. The rockets, the terror. It never was." She had such a look of hope on her face, trying to be optimistic in a time like this, but how could she know what a loss two of the people in this room had just undergone? What a loss the whole world had undergone, really, because Rose was one of the good ones and now she was gon-

No, he would not let himself think that. There was a chance that she was still okay. Maybe she had been sent back to her own dimension. Yeah, that was it. He was sad, but at least she was okay.

He had to give Martha some credit though, so he pushed back what he actually wanted to say and agreed with her.

"Yeah, it never was," he said simply, quietly, and turned his attention to the Doctor as she went to her family.

Jack looked at the Master just in time to see him try to dart out the door, but Jack was faster and he caught him roughly by the arms, digging his hands in as tight as they would go, inflicting as much pain as he could without the Doctor seeing.

"Whoa, big fella! You don't want to miss the party," he growled dangerously and turned to a nearby guard, "Cuffs." The guard quickly planted a set of metal cuffs in Jack's hand and Jack wrestled the Master around to get access to his wrists. He slid the cuffs on, clicking them as far as he could make them go and pushed the Time Lord towards his fate.

The Doctor stood stock still, hands buried in his pockets, his eyes fixed upon the Master. Jack hoped that he would never, ever give the Doctor reason to look at him like that. Ever.

"So, what do we do with this one?" Jack asked, jerking the Master roughly. Yet the Doctor did nothing, said nothing, only continued to stare at the Master with those fathomless eyes.

"We kill him," Clive said from the corner.

"We execute him," Tish agreed.

The Doctor finally spoke, "No, that's not the solution." His words were quiet, deadly, hinting at a worse fate than death.

"Oh, I think so," Francine said and Jack saw she had a gun in her hands, pointed straight at the Master. "Cause all those…things, they still happened because of him. I saw them."

Jack secretly willed her to pull the trigger, to end this, but knew the Master would just regenerate. The Doctor was right, death was not the solution.

"Go on! Do it!" the Master challenged and for a split second Jack thought that she would, but then the Doctor intervened.

"Francine, you're better than him," he said quietly, taking her hand. With a small shudder Francine dropped the gun with a _thud_ and the Doctor embraced her for a moment before passing her off to Martha. Jack admired the Doctor's strength. Despite his loss, he could still control himself enough to prevent an innocent from committing murder. Jack wasn't sure that he would have done the same if the roles had been reversed. It was taking all of his willpower not to choke the life out of the Master and keep doing it until he had no more regenerations left. Jack could wait; he was a very patient man.

But it wasn't his call; it was the Doctor's, so he kept his hold on the garbage-in-cuffs before him and waited for the Doctor's verdict.

"You still haven't answered the question. What happens to me?" the Master said, addressing the Doctor.

"You're my responsibility from now on. The only Time Lord left in existence," the Doctor said. Jack couldn't control himself any longer; he left the Master standing where he was and walked over to the Doctor.

"Yeah, but you can't trust him," Jack whispered. _He KILLED ROSE! _He wanted to shout at the Doctor, anything to get some emotion out of him. It was so easy to forget that the Doctor wasn't human, but right now it was hard to think otherwise. The only thing keeping Jack from breaking down at the moment was his lust for revenge and it didn't look as if that lust would be satiated any time soon.

"No. The only safe place for him is the TARDIS," the Doctor replied, his monotone voice really starting to make Jack angry. He was going to bring that _thing_ onto the TARDIS? Onto the TARDIS where one wrong move would open up all of time and space to that psychotic mass murderer?

"You mean you're just gonna…keep me?" the Master said incredulously. He had probably expected to be thrown to the wolves after what he had done and now the Doctor was showing him _mercy?_ Jack would go along with it for now, but if he was ever alone with the Master…let's just say he had learned a thing or two in his too-long life about torture.

"If that's what I have to do," the Doctor said, and looked at Jack. Jack was about two seconds away from strangling the man. How could he be so _calm_ about this? Rose had just DIED! Again, he pushed the thought out of his mind. She was okay. She had to be okay. The Doctor continued, "It's time to change." Jack looked him in the eye for a moment before a gunshot ripped through the quiet room. Jack had time to see the Doctor's face dissolve into horror before they both looked at the scene before them.

The Master was dropping to the ground, blood pouring from a bullet hole in his chest. As the Doctor sprinted across the room to him, Jack turned his attention to the woman who had fired the gun.

Lucy stood in the corner, pistol still pointed at her husband, anguish and hatred warring for a place on her once beautiful face. Jack approached her carefully, placing himself between her and the Time Lords.

"Lucy," he began quietly, but she had completed her mission and lowered the gun. He swept it from her hands but remained in front of her. She eventually met his eyes, the despair in them so great that it made him want to embrace her. But he didn't. Instead he offered the only comfort that he could. He leaned forward slowly, carefully, and whispered two words in her ear.

"Thank you."

When she pulled away she had a confused, somewhat dazed expression upon her face. "I would have killed her too, you know," she said expressionlessly, and Jack had a suspicion that she hoped he might kill her as well, or at least hit her.

"It's over," Jack said, looking her in the eye one last time and walking away from the woman who had _chosen_ to love this monster, _chosen_ to go along with him. He wasn't sure if she could ever redeem herself but he would allow her to try.

The Doctor was staring down at the Master's prone body as the Time Lord bled out on the floor.

"Always the women," Jack heard the Master gasp. The Doctor continued to stare down at him, hands in pockets. Deciding what to do, Jack guessed.

"Regenerate," the Doctor said. Jack approached him, pausing about a foot behind him.

"No."

"Regenerate," the Doctor repeated, more force in the single word this time. Jack knew the Doctor must be struggling with this. The Master was the last of the Doctor's race and Jack knew enough about Time Lords to know that they shared a very intense bond with one another. That the Doctor probably saw the Master as his last hope for redemption.

But forgiveness comes hard when one has killed the woman you love.

"I guess you don't know me so well. I refuse," the Master said weakly. "She was magnificent though, wasn't she Doctor?" Jack had to dig his fingernails into his palms until they bled to resist ending this here and now. How dare he bring her up right now? He _knew_ what it would do to the Doctor and even with his dying breath he strove to hurt the only person who was willing to show him mercy.

"There's no one else. Regenerate!" everyone in the room jumped as the Doctor shouted the last word. He was losing his composure, the cracks and fissures in the miles-thick wall he had erected were widening and dark waves of devastation were leaking through.

"How about that? I win," the Master paused, struggling to say the last words he would ever speak. "Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming. Will it stop?"

With that, the Master fell still.

Jack had seen many people die in his day, too many, and this was one of the more peaceful deaths. The Master deserved anything but a peaceful death, but it was done now.

The room was silent; no one daring to even breathe such was the tension. Jack could only see the Doctor's back as he stood over the dead Time Lord. His shoulders were still straight but his hands were clenched so tight that Jack could see white knuckles and veins. He didn't move, didn't speak.

Then he stooped, and slid his arms underneath the Master, lifting him with apparent ease. He turned to Jack and the pure emotion in his eyes mixed with white-hot steel made Jack want to look away, but he didn't.

"Jack," the Doctor began but Jack cut him off. He knew what the Doctor wanted from him, knew what the Doctor needed.

"Yeah, I'm on it," Jack said, and the Doctor gave him a curt nod before exiting the room slowly, not looking at anyone as he went, the Master's body draped over his arms. He entered the elevator and was gone.

"Alright you lot," Jack shouted to the room at large, "Let's get back to Earth."

?*?*?*?*?

The heat from the funeral pyre was almost too much to bear but the Doctor relished the pain. He watched as the flames licked up the dry wood and started to devour the body of the last Time Lord besides himself. His friend, his nemesis, his hope, his pain.

When he was sure that the Master's body was fully ignited the Doctor turned his back on the scene, dropping his torch near the base of the pyre. The night air was cold but he didn't notice as he slowly trekked back to the waiting TARDIS. Back to a waiting Jack. He would have to go to get Martha again, he had dropped her and her family off at home before coming to this desolate place. Martha had tried to talk to him, to comfort him but he had gently brushed her off with a small smile and she had retreated.

He hadn't seen her family go, hadn't said goodbye. There would be time for that later. After he had left the control room of the _Valiant_ he had gone straight to the Med Bay in the restored TARDIS to prepare the Master's body for the flames. He was still a Time Lord, and even after all he had done, the Doctor couldn't ignore the rituals that, that fact entailed.

The TARDIS was singing an endless song of sorrow from the time he entered her until he exited. She was mourning for him, mourning for the Master, mourning for-

No, if he thought of that now all would be lost. He couldn't, just _couldn't_ think of her until he had completed what needed to be done. If he let his walls slip for just one second, he didn't know if he could continue on. So he pushed the emotional part of his mind even deeper, maybe so deep that he would never find it again. At this point, he was okay with that.

He washed the Master's body gently and carefully wrapped him in linens that the TARDIS supplied. Jack was nowhere to be seen, probably lost in his own mourning for-

_NO!_

Now, as the Doctor paused outside of the blue doors to the TARDIS he could feel his walls crumbling down, feel the blackness that surrounded his hearts eating away at him.

How much loss could one Time Lord take? With a deep breath he pushed the doors open, ignoring, as always the TARDIS's sign that said 'Pull to Open'. _She_ had always chided him about that.

_No! Not yet, not yet._

Jack entered the console room as the Doctor was beginning to flip switches. The two men stared at each other for a long moment, finding their own pain mirrored back in one another's faces. Jack looked away first and the Doctor pulled down the final lever that sent the rotors grinding away.

When Jack pushed open the door he saw the cascading water of the Roald Dahl Plass. He turned to look at the Doctor again but got no real response. The two men stepped out into the cold Cardiff afternoon and looked about them. Even to the Doctor, the sights and sounds of people going about their normal lives was a shock. The events of the past year had been so devastating, so many of these people had died or had been enslaved.

And here they were.

A tiny part of him wished that he could trade it all just to know that _she_ was safe again, safe in Pete's World. Because he had killed her.

"Will I see you again, Doctor?" Jack asked, facing the Doctor.

The Doctor knew what Jack wanted him to say, but at that moment he just wasn't sure. So he lied. That was what he was really good at wasn't it?

"Oh, I'm sure you will. Impossible lives, us," the Doctor said half-heartedly. He knew he didn't have to pretend in front of Jack, that the man was the only person who probably understood even the smallest fraction of what the Doctor was feeling, but old habits die hard.

Jack didn't respond, he seemed reluctant to go so the Doctor urged him on, "Go, Jack. Go and live well. Be happy. Save the world. You deserve it. Do it for her." He extended his hand out to his former companion, to his friend and Jack took it, shaking with a firm grip and a meaningful look. Then he turned his back and jogged his way to the hidden entrance and disappeared.

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor set the coordinates for the Jones home. This was not going to be easy. He knew Martha felt…more for him than she should. Her glances and intonations had not been lost upon him but he hoped that her year abroad had quelled some of that. Because he couldn't bring her with him. Not after everything that had happened. He was _meant _to be alone. Hadn't the universe been telling him that over, and over, and over again all of his long, long life? Martha deserved to be happy, to become a proper doctor, to be with her family. She had helped to save the world, after all. Brilliant Martha Jones. He was doing this for her.

_Liar._

He ignored that part of his mind despite the fact that he knew it to be true. The truth was, he didn't know how much longer he could keep this charade up. Just below the surface his unbelievable pain roiled and surged, threatening to explode out of him and no one should be witness to that. He needed to be alone, to put the TARDIS into the vortex and to stay there, frozen in time for as long as he could.

So when he stepped out of the TARDIS once again, and saw the Jones family through the window he prepared what he was going to say. He had left companions behind before, like Sarah Jane, he could do it again. He was doing Martha a favor. She could live a better life, a _real_ life here on Earth. She had never been meant to be in this for the long haul. She was too attached to life on Earth, too set in her own ways. But she had saved him from incredible loneliness, _had _distracted him from the sadness that _her_ first departure had caused. He owed Martha a real life.

Francine was the first to spot him as she was the closest to the window. She gazed at him for a long moment and then turned away. The Doctor knew she would send Martha out after him so he went back inside the TARDIS and waited, tossing his overcoat over a piece of coral as he went to the console. He didn't want to hurt Martha, but he had to. None of this should have happened to her or her family. Life with him was supposed to be about wonder, adventure, excitement, and running, lots of running. Not like this.

He glanced at his hand, bubbling away in the container that Jack had put it in and sat down heavily in the jump seat, looking about him at his beautiful TARDIS. She had been restored fully, down to the last button. When she had died the Doctor hadn't even had time to consider what he would do without her. But then _she_ had brought her back to life, giving him the only thing that she could before she-

His dangerously dark thoughts were interrupted by Martha pushing her way in through the doors. He peeked out from behind the console and got to his feet, taking a deep breath and preparing himself for what was to come. She approached cautiously, as if unsure of how to deal with him now that she had seen, well, everything.

"Martha," he began, but she cut him off.

"I just can't," she said. It didn't take his vast mind to realize what was going on. _She_ was leaving _him_.

Why did he feel a twinge of disappointment at that? He had been about to tell her that she couldn't come with him. But she had traveled with him for so long and he loved her. Loved her in the way that he had loved all the other companions. All except one. She had been so brave, so smart, had impressed him so many times, and he was unsure that, if he left her now, that he would ever see her again. But it was better this way. Her choice.

So he simply said, "Okay."

She took a deep breath, looked him in the eye and said, "Spent all these years training to be a doctor. Now I've got people to look after. They saw half the planet slaughtered and they're devastated. I can't leave them."

"Of course not," he said. The Doctor forced a final smile on his face. He wanted her to remember him like this, not the wreck of a man that he was now, "Thank you." Her sad face melted into a small smile. He drew her into one last hug and then pulled away. "Martha Jones, you saved the world."

"I helped," she conceded, "I spent a lot of time with you thinking I was second best. But you know what? I _am_ good." Her face grew serious, "You gonna be all right?"

The Doctor wasn't sure if he was ever going to be all right again but he lied, again, spouting off a line that he had said so many times before, "Always. Yeah."

She looked at him right in the eye and he knew that she knew that he was lying. "Right then," she said, standing on tiptoe to kiss him in the cheek. "Goodbye." And then she turned to leave, striding with purpose towards the TARDIS doors, shutting them behind her.

The Doctor turned to the console, preparing to disappear, perhaps forever, but turned back when the doors squeaked open. Martha began talking right away, all in a rush, "'Cause the thing is, it's like my friend Vicky, she lived with this bloke, student housing, there were five of them, all packed in, and this bloke was called Sean. And she loved him, she did. She completely adored him. Spent all day long talking about him."

The Doctor _really_ didn't have time for this right now. Well, in reality he had all the time in the world, but he had some massive mourning to do and it was taking all of his self-control, every little bit of it to maintain his composure. "Is this going anywhere?"

"Yes!" she cried and he crossed his arms. She deserved to be heard out, even if at the moment he could barely hear one word in three that she was saying. "'Cause he never looked at her twice. I mean, he liked her, but that was it. And she wasted years pining after him, years of her life, 'cause while he was around, she never looked at anyone else. And I told her, I always said to her, time and time again, I said: 'Get out.' So this is me, getting out." She paused, waiting for him to say something but he remained silent. "She was amazing, your Rose. Really. _She_ saved the world. I am so, so sorry, Doctor."

Her words sent pain through his hearts but he held his face blank. Martha reached into her pocket and extracted her mobile, tossing it across the distance and he caught it with ease. "Keep that. 'Cause I'm not having you disappear. If that rings, when that rings, you better come running. Got it?"

"Got it," he replied quietly. She gave him one last smile and then she was out the doors and he was alone. Well and truly alone.

He went to the console and sent the TARDIS into the vortex. Now that there was silence he could feel the well of emotion bubbling to the surface, shattering the walls he had put up. It was coming now, erupting out of him.

"_I love you,"_ the words echoed through his head, her dying words.

Rose was dead.

He sank to the floor of the TARDIS, his hearts breaking, ripping to pieces inside of him. A sound began to come out of him, emanating deep within and tearing its way out through his throat. A sound of pure agony. Pure loss. Pure devastation. He keened and yelled again and again until his throat was raw and still he kept on.

The Doctor shook, sobs threatening to break out of him. Crouched on the floor, head in his hands, he couldn't get the events of the past four hours out of his head and they flashed past his eyes at a rapid rate. He kept seeing instances where he could have changed something. Anything. Saved her.

Oh Rassilion why didn't he save her?

It should have been him. It should never have been her. He could see her now, sobbing in his arms, so strong, so brave. He could see her atoms breaking apart, bursting into golden light until she was made entirely of shimmering particles that drifted away at his touch. She had saved the world. Brought the TARDIS back to life.

She had died.

Wracking sobs continued to come out of him as he let himself be consumed by the darkest pain imaginable. She had saved him so many times. Not just from enemies, but from himself. She had brought him back to life, given him a reason for living.

Where was that reason now?

For the briefest moment he considered going back, paradoxes be damned. A world without Rose Tyler, even Rose Tyler in another dimension, was no place to be. But he knew he could not. He couldn't not let her sacrifice be for nothing.

And so he kept on, eventually collapsing on the sharp metal floor of the TARDIS while the ship herself sang her own song of mourning, mixing with his sobs.

Without knowing why he began repeating the same two words over and over again, "Bad Wolf. Bad Wolf. Bad Wolf."

She had once said that she had scattered those words across time and space to find her way back to him, hadn't she? He knew it was impossible, that she was gone, but he kept on crooning those words out between choked sobs, "Bad Wolf. Bad Wolf…"

Then TARDIS went still. He noticed the vacancy of her presence immediately. She was not dead, but she was not here.

An ethereal wind began whipping up around him and he uncovered his face. Suddenly the rotors began grinding at a rapid pace, the wind picking up speed. He looked about him in confusion and shock.

Then he saw it. It began with one glimmer, then another and then still more. Small golden particles began collecting a few feet away from him and the wind began to concentrate around a central point. From his position on the floor, unable to move, unable to breathe, he watched as a form began to take shape.

At first it was the faintest outline, arms, legs, shoulders, head, but then it began to solidify, slowly, so agonizingly slow. His hearts began to pound out a rapid double rhythm, threatening to beat out of his chest. He didn't dare think, just watched as hair cascaded down off of the figure's head, fingers sprouted, and a face materialized, growing more and more solid with each passing second. The wind continued around it, a veritable tornado. There was a flash of blinding light and he shielded his eyes against it.

And then all of it stopped, and with it, his hearts.

For, when he dropped his hand, he saw the one person in all of the worlds, in all of time and space, that he had ever loved, standing above him, with eyes closed, lips parted. His reason for living.

Suddenly she gasped and her eyes flew open, finding him immediately.

"Rose…"

She stood before him, the last wisps of the time energy emanating from her bare skin before disappearing into the atmosphere of the TARDIS. She was unclothed and luminous, long, blonde hair falling like silk to cover her breasts, blinking away golden dust that still clung to her dark lashes.

"Doctor…I…" she whispered, more glimmering energy coming out from between her lips, and swayed on her feet. The Doctor leapt into action, his tears of sorrow now replaced by ones of pure joy as he swept her into his arms. This couldn't be real, but even if it wasn't, even if this was all a hallucination brought on by madness he would accept it. If it meant that she was actually here, right now, with him, he would accept anything.

"Rose, oh Rose," he murmured into her hair and he felt her arms snake shakily around his waist to return the embrace. The TARDIS burst into life, her rotors grinding and lights growing bright, the song she sang brought even more tears to his eyes.

He felt Rose shiver and leaned over to where he had abandoned his coat, without breaking their contact, wrapping it around her bare shoulders and covering the rest of her nude body. He held her out slightly so that he could look at her, examine her.

It was Rose. It was really, truly Rose.

He touched her face, her hair, her shoulders, ran a thumb over her bottom lip. He didn't know how, and, frankly, he did not care right now. He could feel her mind brushing his, a presence that he thought was gone with the Master.

A smile broke across his face as his joyful tears trailed down his cheeks to fall upon his suit. Rose had tears of her own in her eyes and, impulsively, he kissed them away as they fell. She giggled slightly at that and his hearts soared, the sound of her laughter taking years off of him.

Their wordless, joyful reunion was cut short however, when, to his horror, her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she collapsed into his arms.

"Rose?!" he called, shaking her slightly but she was unconscious. He swept her up bride-style and half-ran half-stumbled out of the console room, headed directly for the Med Bay.

"Rose you _are_ going to be all right. You hear me? You are!"

**A/N: Eep! I am SO EXCITED to write the next parts! Happy! I hope I redeemed myself for the sadness I inflicted upon you all. ROSE IS BACK! THEIR REUNION WAS SWEET ENOUGH TO MAKE MY FEELS GO ALL A-FLUTTER. I was totally going to leave it with him saying, "Rose…" again but then I decided you all more than deserve a little treat of a romantic reunion so I gave it just the tiniest of baby cliffhangers, just to keep you on your toes. **

**I really have no idea where I am going to end this story. Do you guys think I should end it and then do a sequel? Or should I just make it all one big fat Endlessly? I am okay with either. I love and adore you all, you guys make me the happiest Whovian who ever lived.**

**Xx Lady Ten**


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: I'M BACK! Oh holy jeez, I am so sorry this took so long! I had the most hellish two weeks at work and now I am writing this very message from Hawaii. I've been waking up every morning early so that I can write. It is quite nice, sitting on the balcony with a cup of coffee watching whales spouting out yonder but it not a very inspiring setting for the Doctor and Rose's pain and suffering. BUT I AM HERE NOW and I finally completed this chapter! Thank you x 34232840938429340 to: Barefoot Beach Bum, Perminatly Lost In Thought, Acoustic Dancer, ladyamadaun, AvenJackel, JollyRoger1, badwolf2991, gabbygirl89, love-peace-choir-svu, Tardis Holmes, NoPondInTheForest, ignitedsoul, AkumakoRonso, Miss Tyler, Pig-Rabbit-Suk, Ravenlupa the DragonSage84, SittingOnTheEdgeOfTheUnivers e, Amber Forest, LadaHathaway, Whitepurity, Books. , Heart of Diamond, atalanta563, RoseKatnissWeasley7, OnceadiaryintheTARDIS, Names Have Power, DreamIntoTheOcean, hungrywhovianpotterhead, Princesscupcakes, ishouldbedoinghomework, Suuki-Aldrea, amgonyea, Luce Elena, Rozablood, Angie, CallMeKia, LostInWho, Dalek Khan, TooLazyToLogin, ElementalFoxGoddess, Purple Drow, Chris4, Amelia St. Claire, proudwombat, sockmonkeyhatinthetardis, and a few anonymous guests for your ABSOLUTELY INSPIRING AMAZING REVIEWS! I hope this chapter is worth the wait, the next one will be loverley and probably a little bit fluffy and feelsy.

She awoke with a start, blonde hair plastered to the back of her neck with cold sweat, heart racing. Taking a deep, shaking breath that sounded like a sob she sat up and switched on her bedside light. She looked about her, taking in the familiar surroundings. She was in her bed. At home in bed.

But-

Foggy memories laced through her mind.

The Doctor, he had been right there.

"_Rose Tyler, I love you."_

A twinge of pain jolted her heart. A dream, it had all just been a dream. Of course it had just been a dream. Her return to Bad Wolf Bay, the Toclafane…

But it had seemed so real. More real than any of her other dreams. The pain. Jack!

The Master.

Rose swept a shaking hand through her hair, pulling it away from her face, trying to ignore the lump in her throat that foretold tears.

It had seemed so real.

She lay back with a heavy sigh and pulled the blanket up over her head, hiding away from the reality that she knew awaited her. That world that didn't want her, her family that did want her but no longer understood her, her job that needed her.

She would give up any of that to get back even for an hour. To see_ him_ again.

She should have known when he had kissed her, when he had told her that he loved her that it was all a dream. The Doctor was many things, but not that.

Rose flung back the covers, resigning herself to the day ahead of her. Her feet hit the carpet with a light _thud_ and she tugged down the hem on her turquoise silk nightgown-

Wait.

She had gone to bed in a tee shirt and knickers. Why was she wearing…this?

Her heart began to pound all over again and she crept suspiciously towards the door, her training kicking in, prepared for anything. There were those out there who would like to get revenge upon her after she had led mission after mission to foil one plan or another. Could they have finally gotten her? Forced their way into her mind somehow? She braced herself and turned the knob slowly.

Rose ripped the door open.

And her heart stopped.

Green, gold, and copper coral made up the hallway that greeted her astonished eyes and familiar humming sang through her ears.

No.

No no no no no no.

Now she was hallucinating?

Rose began to panic, frozen in place. She wanted so badly for this to be real but she knew it could not be. Maybe she was still dreaming? Maybe something _had_ happened to her on a mission. The Void that usually warned her of danger was not making itself known but that did nothing to stop the terror she felt. And the ache for she knew that this could not be happening. He had said it was impossible.

All of a sudden she became aware of footsteps approaching from the right. They stopped abruptly and Rose heard a sharp intake of breath.

She began to turn her head, terrified at the hope she felt. Terrified at the devastation she would feel once this all disappeared.

But she did turn her head and what she saw made the breath catch in her throat.

The Doctor was standing stock-still at the end of the hallway. He was bearing a tray that audibly rattled at his sudden lack of momentum. They stood there, staring at each other, neither daring to move.

She, because she thought it would take one blink and all of this would be gone.

And he?

He was the first to move, taking one step and then another, approaching her as one would a wild animal. She turned to face him fully as her heart continued to gallop out of her chest.

Preservation instincts kicking in, Rose began to back up, back into the room.

She couldn't go through this again, she had to wake up. Her mind would not recover from this. Her heart would be destroyed by it.

She backed up until the back of her legs hit the bed. He paused in her doorway and she could only see the outline of him, silhouetted against the soft amber glow of the TARDIS hallway. That painfully familiar outline, all long, sharp lines and spiky hair.

Memorizing that image, Rose squeezed her eyes shut.

"Wake up," she murmured to herself. "Wake up!"

She heard another footstep, a soft rattle, yet another step.

"Wake up," she said again, with more force, crossing her arms in front of her. She pinched herself, hard.

Gentle hands encircled hers and pulled them away, interrupting a particularly painful pinch. They laced fingers through hers, solid, comforting and so familiar. She wanted this to be real. Why couldn't this be real? It felt like it was, her heart sang with the feeling that it was. But her mind knew better.

"Rose," his voice felt like a caress and tears sprang to her closed eyes. "Rose, open your eyes."

"If I do, you will disappear," she whispered.

"Not this time," he said, equally quiet, pain tainting his voice. A warm hand traveled from her hand to her face, cupping her cheek so gently.

Rose took a shaky breath and counted to three.

One…she was memorizing the sensation of his hands, storing the feeling away for those dark times when she felt so alone.

Two…she memorized the sound of his voice; she had been beginning to forget it. She must never forget.

Three…she steeled herself against the agony that awakening would inevitably cause, because when she awoke he would be gone.

She opened her eyes.

?*?*?*?

The Doctor ran with Rose in his arms, darting down hallway after hallway, trying to jostle her as little as possible. She was so light in his arms, so delicate. Rose had always been strong and solid, but now…

He was going to fix her if it killed him. He was the Doctor, dammit, and he would live up to his name at least one time in his too-long life.

He reached the doors marked with the green symbol he had been looking for and kicked them open, sweeping inside carefully so as not to knock Rose on anything.

The TARDIS brought the lights and equipment to life around him as he softly laid his precious burden upon the table. The Doctor went through the motions, scanning Rose with a myriad of devices, some of which were completely unnecessary. He didn't want to miss a single thing. Only after all of the scans were completed did he go through the readings, all of them displayed in the elegant swoops and spirals of his native language.

Her heart was beating, albeit slowly, her breathing was normal. Good, this was good.

Age: Twenty-Four. So it had been two years since he had last said goodbye to her. What had she been doing in all of that time? She had obviously been active - he didn't need the scans to see that. She was lean and toned, muscled calves peeking out from under his brown coat. She had been doing lots of running. He smiled at that, despite himself.

Did she have a boyfriend? A husband? He abruptly pushed that thought away, not allowing himself to check for a ring or a tan line where a ring would have been. What business was it of his if she did? She should be happy, leading a normal life in a normal world. Still, the hot stab of jealousy at the thought of this imagined man went through the Doctor before he went back to the computer.

He tried to examine her molecular and genetic structure but the computer seemed to be frozen. Angrily he bashed the side of it twice with his fist, ignoring the indignant, mechanical sound that the TARDIS made in response to the abuse.

These readings…they didn't make any sense. The Doctor pulled his brainy specs out, more out of habit than necessity, and placed them upon his face, squinting at the readings. They were flashing now, skipping from species to species at times settling on 'Human', then on 'Time Lord' and with one final flash and glitch of the screen it landed on 'Unknown' and stayed there.

The Doctor scrubbed a hand through his hair and then ran it down his face, pulling the skin of his cheeks taught. The computers were at a loss and frankly, so was he.

Never before had he seen this. Rose had disappeared. She had given herself up to the Time Vortex, allowing herself to be erased from all of time and space. Forever.

But then…

He remembered chanting the words 'Bad Wolf' over and over again. What if-? No, it couldn't possibly-

"_I take the words. I scatter them. In time and space. A message to lead myself here."_

"Oh Rose, you amazing woman," he said under his breath, staring at her unconscious form. Was it possible that the power of the Bad Wolf, the power of his Rose, had been great enough to follow his voice all the way back?

So then where was she? Her vital signs were, while confusing, very stable. He still did not know what the Master had done to her.

The Master. The name brought such a mix of emotions to the surface that the Doctor did not know what to do about them. Part of him was devastated by the loss. Another part, the Oncoming Storm he supposed, was glad that he was gone.

He would deal with that later.

The Doctor didn't know what to do, didn't know why Rose was unconscious, how to bring her back. There was only one thing he could do. The Master had already intruded into her mind so much that he felt wrong even considering it. But if this was the only way…

The Doctor positioned himself at the top of her head, staring down at her. Dark circles lay underneath her eyes, her face devoid of makeup. He had never told her that she was beautiful without makeup, how much he loved those rare times when she came out of her room without it. He should have told her.

Tentatively, he spread his fingers across her temples, through her silky hair, and closed his eyes. He opened himself to her, searching for the psychic connection that he knew must still be there. He was met with a wall of swirling gold that reminded him of the Vortex. Gently he parted it with his mind like one would silk curtains, and stepped inside.

The bodily part of him wanted to gasp at what he saw. Her mind was vast, enormous, branching off in a labyrinth of routes and channels. It was Time Lord but so much more. Where was she? Nervously he let his shields down. He had not been this vulnerable to anyone since he was young on Gallifrey, before harsh lessons had taught him to protect himself.

He walked forward and suddenly he was in Rose's childhood.

"_Ro-ose, time for dinner!" Jackie's familiar voice called and seven year old Rose Tyler looked up from her coloring book._

Another step, ten years later.

"_You're nothing without me you stupid bitch!" a dark haired, attractive boy shouted at her. Pain was blossoming across her cheek where she had just been struck. _

Jimmy Stone. Rose had told the Doctor about him. He had tried to conceal his fury then, but living it through her eyes made his hearts erupt in rage. He quickly stepped out of the memory.

"_Wilson? Its Rose, I've got the lottery money!" she called at the door, fear creeping through her. There was a noise and she turned. A plastic mannequin. Fear. Running. A hand._

"_Run!" a strange, short haired man said, grasping her hand and pulling._

"_Why her?" she asked, "Why did they want her?" that wasn't the question that Rose wanted to ask. What she wanted to do was demand to know why the Doctor had been willing to abandon her on a space station for Madame du Pompadour. What that woman had that Rose did not. Well, she supposed, the woman was probably everything that she was not. Jealousy coursed through her veins but she would not let the Doctor see her pain. But the pain was there._

"_Trapped with you, wouldn't be so bad…" a part of Rose _liked_ the idea. She still felt the pain of the loss of the TARDIS but, if she had to be trapped with anyone, she would choose the Doctor every time. Did he feel the same? Did she scare him when she mentioned their potential future?_

The Doctor stepped through memory after memory, abruptly arriving at the most painful ones of all.

"_Take me back!" she screamed, pounding on the wall, tears streaming down her face. Her heart was broken, utterly shattered and she rested her face against that wall of that impossible, parallel wall. Was he on the other side? She closed her eyes for a moment, tears spilling out over her lashes, reaching, searching, imagining he was there, just on the other side. She placed her hand against the plain white surface, pretending that his was mirroring hers. _

_She stood on the beach in Norway, bloody Norway, searching _for_ him, her ears striving to hear the familiar, wonderful grinding of the TARDIS. The sound that haunted her dreams and her reality. More than once she had gone running, thinking that she had heard it. Always disappointed. The wind whipped through her short hair and she hugged herself. She turned. There he was. Her heart leapt with joy. Why did he look so sad?_

"_Rose Tyler-"_

Once again the Doctor kicked himself. Feeling all of these memories from Rose's perspective, her human vulnerability heightening everything made his hearts ache.

All of these past Rose's…but where was she?

He parted another barrier of gold and entered.

_Her fist connected with the rather ugly face of a Weevil. The beast let out a gurgling groan as blood began to bubble out of its blunt nose. It lunged for her again but she dodged it easily. The Void told her where she needed to go, what to do next and her Torchwood training was second nature to her now. With one final, powerful kick she sent the Weevil flying against a brick wall where it crumpled to the ground. She brushed stray blonde hair back from her face and grabbed her radio._

"_Tyler to base," she said into the com device. The Doctor found that he was breathing hard. It had taken all of his self-control not to jump in to help her during the fight. But she hadn't needed his help. Hadn't needed him at all. Her clipped tone as it reported to the 'base' that she had contained the threat was brand new to him. He did, however, recognize the voice that came out of the black SUV that screeched to a halt behind her, even before he saw the driver. Mickey Smith leapt out of the back of the vehicle and held his hand up for a high five. Rose smiled grimly at him and smacked her hand against his before they loaded the Weevil into the van. _

"_You sure do get mauled by these things, often Rose," the Doctor heard Mickey say from inside._

"_Yeah, well, you know how it is Mick," Rose replied tiredly before the doors slammed and they drove away quickly._

How was it, exactly? The Doctor wondered before the memory dissolved.

_He was standing in a small flat, fairly standard issue. Rose was just walking through the door, shutting and locking it behind her. She ran her fingers through her hair and he could see – could feel, her weariness. She tossed her keys onto the counter and looked about the small space sadly. _

"_Welcome home, Rose," she said to no one in particular, "I missed you so much." She had just arrived from an extended trip through China. A rogue group of Kriaxic had infiltrated an entire small city, turning their power plant into a weapons factory. Four of her team had been killed, their bodies, or what remained of their bodies, being transferred via airship even as she poured herself a glass of red wine. Good people, they had been. She would have been one of them if not for that bloody damn Void. _

_Sometimes she wished it would just let her go. Be too late just once._

The Doctor longed to reach out to her, to take her empty hand in his. The loneliness, the sadness, the sheer despondency and guilt she felt made his hearts ache. How many times had he felt exactly like that? How many times had she been the only thing that made those crushing sensations go away? The memory started to fade when tears began to fall from her eyes, right as the Doctor was about to try to wrap his arms around her.

He stumbled up against another barrier, this one stronger than all of the others. He held up a hand against it and it hummed with power. He focused his mind, pushing away Rose's pain, _his_ pain. A moment passed, and then his hand slid through the barrier inch by inch. The energy he felt from the other side was like none he ever felt before, and it fought against him every step of the way. But he was determined, nothing could keep him away, and after one last push he was through.

The world was gold. He knew right away that this wasn't a memory. Power, energy, and light shimmered all around him and he couldn't see past his own outstretched hand.

He could feel her though.

He strode forward blindly, relying upon his strong connection to her. She was here, she was close.

Another veil of gold mist parted before him and there she was. Her back was to him and she was still nude, the mist thick enough that it covered her modesty, swirling around her arms and legs, her hair cascading down her bare back.

"Rose?" he called, tentatively.

"She is here," Rose replied, but it was not Rose's voice. It was the Bad Wolf. The Doctor stepped closer to her and the Bad Wolf spoke again. "This body, this mind, cannot handle the both of us, Doctor. Not on our own. We made the sacrifice and we were strong enough to come when you called. You pulled us from all reaches of time and space, through the Vortex, through the Void, gathering us back to you. You should not have done this."

The Doctor, for another rare moment in his life, was speechless. He managed to pull himself together enough to ask, "What do you want me to do?" Rose – the Bad Wolf - turned to him then, and the eyes he met were not the warm hazel that he found so much comfort in. They were ablaze with fiery golden light and it took all of his willpower not to look away from them.

"That, Doctor, is entirely up to you. You must separate us, or join us. Rose could be strong enough to contain us both, but not without your assistance. If you separate us, she will wither and die, perhaps even faster than a normal human lifespan. If you forge us together, the end result is uncertain. Unprecedented. We may live on, much like a child of Gallifrey, our lifespan even extending beyond yours, Time Lord. Or we will burn, consuming one another until there is nothing left. You must choose. Condemn us or become our salvation."

There was only serenity upon her features, directly contrasting with the hurricane of conflict raging within him. Never before had he been faced with a decision quite like this. His vast mind was failing him. It was an utter gamble. A roll of the dice.

A roll of the dice with the most important thing in his lives on the line.

"How can I make this choice?" he finally asked the Bad Wolf, his voice choked with pain and anger.

"Because you must. You are the only one who can, Time Lord. We are sorry, we are so sorry, but you must or we remain forever in the Void."

Her face showed a flicker of emotion then, a glimmer of Rose. But then she was gone.

The Doctor stood there, staring at Rose, at the Bad Wolf, but not really seeing either. His mind was too consumed, traveling down each path. Leave it how it was and Rose would remain forever lost to him but still alive inside of her mind, inside of the Void.

He knew what she would say to that one without even thinking. She would hate that, being trapped as a veritable vegetable, unable to speak, unable to act.

Unable to run.

Could he bet her life, bet her existence on a guess? He had done it before. He lived for the unknown, for the impossible, leaping without a plan, making it up as he went along. But look where that had gotten him. Alone. Making the choice whether to let Rose live or die.

He wanted to run away. He hated that part of himself but it was there regardless. That instinct to run away from the emotion, from the attachment. He could not run this time.

He pulled himself together and looked the Bad Wolf straight in the eye, unsure of his answer until he spoke it.

"Come here."

The Bad Wolf paused, and then came towards him, the golden mist dancing and swirling in her wake. She paused inches in front of him, their eyes locked.

Without preamble, without giving himself time to reconsider or even think, he placed his hands on either side of her head and she closed her eyes, giving herself up to him. He looked at her beautiful face one last time before delving deeper into her than he had ever been in anyone's mind before. It was fire and ice, pain and pleasure. By far the hardest thing he had ever done.

The Bad Wolf fought against him, Rose fought against him. He almost gave up more than once. He visualized the melding, each individual seam and stitch he put into place, forging them together. He reinforced each connection with his own regeneration energy, probably giving up decades of his life but not caring one bit. It would all be worth it if this worked.

Please, Rassilion, please let this work.

The Doctor's strength was waning, his mind put under more pressure than it had ever experienced in his nine hundred years, buckling under the panic that he was killing the one thing he held dear.

Then it was over.

Before he retreated he put up barriers between Rose's mind and whatever she was now. If she awoke to the full fury of what now lay within her, that is, if she awoke at all, then she would surely burn. Behind the barriers he sealed her resurrection, placing the true memories behind such a haze that it would appear as if it had been just a dream.

Carefully he withdrew from her, closing door after door behind him.

He came back to the world with an excruciating gasp of air, tears falling down his cheeks, his hands stiff and still buried in her hair.

What had he done?

How long had it been?

She remained unconscious, still wrapped in his jacket, shallow breath coming from between her slightly parted lips.

His knees shook, all of his energy drained from him and he supported himself on the table upon which she lay, gazing down at her.

The TARDIS hummed at him, her concern apparent.

"I don't know, Old Girl, I really do not know," he murmured.

Mustering the last of his strength he slid his arms under her knees and shoulders, lifting her off of the table and heading for the exit. The TARDIS opened the door for him and he dragged himself down the hall towards Rose's old bedroom.

He knew the way well; his feet had often brought him here. After Donna had refused him, after Shakespeare, time after time he found himself at this door, pausing outside of it much as he had innumerable times when Rose was still there. When she had laid sleeping mere feet away from him.

He had never allowed himself to enter though, then or after. Then, he had been too afraid. He had known that, if he went in he would watch her sleep, that, if she had a nightmare his willpower would crumble and he would comfort her, that, if she awoke and reached out to him, he would be powerless to resist. So he had never gone in. Never exposed his true feelings, true desires.

But on more than one occasion he had stood in the doorway whilst she dashed around, gathering a sweatshirt or applying one last coat of mascara. While she dug around in a drawer for a Traychoridan Amulet that they needed or a random object required for a TARDIS repair. The room had always felt so comforting. So Rose.

She had declared, upon settling in, that she was done with the pink and purple décor of her childhood bedroom in the Powell Estates. The TARDIS had happily accommodated every whim. The Doctor had always been in slight awe of the swift attachment that his ship had developed towards this human girl.

Almost as swift as his own attachment had been. He may have not known it at the time, so stunted by the hate and rage that had dwelt in his former self, but the moment he grabbed her hand he was addicted. The TARDIS changed Rose's bedroom at least once every other month, adding décor that Rose adored from one planet or time, subtracting things that Rose grew bored of.

The TARDIS was never that cooperative with him, but he didn't mind. The grin that spread across Rose's face when she chose to tell him about these changes was enough to bring one to his and an unseen lift to his hearts.

The one constant had been the photographs. Rose loved taking pictures. The TARDIS had even set up photography development capabilities for her, smitten ship that she was. So Rose's walls were covered with pictures of them. Of her with various alien species, of her with Vanessa from Rome, them and Jack, Mickey's candidly stupefied face at one wonder or another, the Doctor wearing a goofy grin whilst draped in a rather ridiculous cloak that Rose had insisted upon. Christmas with Jackie. Frames and frames had been placed carefully upon her walls.

After she had gone he thought he just might break if he went in so, when he arrived in front of the door, the one that had 'Rose' scrawled in Gallifreyan, and the TARDIS opened them for him, he was slightly unprepared for what he saw.

The walls were bare, the furniture sparse. There was not one single stich of personal touch to the room. A small pile of clothes lay in the corner, a half empty glass of water stood on the nightstand. A deep purple comforter was the only remotely Rose accent that this room bore.

His mind pieced together what his eyes could not understand. This was her room from Pete's world. Sadness once again gripped his hearts and he forced himself to walk forward, turning slightly so he would not hit her unconscious form on the doorway. The TARDIS had changed the room entirely so that, upon waking, Rose's mind would not be overwhelmed. He supposed it made sense, hadn't he just sealed away the newest memories inside of her head? But seeing the room like this pained him more deeply than he would have thought. This was not Rose's room, there was no comfort here. He swore to himself then and there, that, if she woke up, if she was his Rose (and even if she was not) he would spend every second healing what he had broken.

The lights turned on as he laid her upon the queen sized bed, pillows only enough for one.

He saw it as he pulled back the neatly made covers. A photograph. Grainy but familiar.

It was a picture that she had taken on her phone, one of their very last adventures together. They were standing in front of a crystalline, deep pink waterfall, heads pressed together, smiling for all they were worth. He remembered this particular adventure. She had gotten a kick out of the shade of the water and so, therefore, she had to take a picture. He had feigned reluctance, stating they had business to take care of but both of them knew he did not really mean it.

Not long after the photo was taken they had, had to run for their lives from a flock of Jitori ravens, tripled beaked with a thirst for blood. But in that moment, in that one single moment, he had been blissfully happy. From the smile on her face she had felt the same.

It was the only remnant of him in this room. The only thing that had withstood time and space.

Before his eyes the TARDIS replaced his jacket with a turquoise blue nightdress, silky material draping over her curvy yet lithe body.

Was his Rose still in there? Had he done it? Or would she awake screaming, burning before his eyes? Would her hazel eyes ever open again?

He pulled the blankets up over her body, his hands shaking, legs still quaking. Suddenly he fell to his knees, unable to hold himself up any longer.

With the last ounce of his strength, he pulled himself up onto the bed beside of her, only the blanket separating them. Her scent, so familiar after all this time filled his nostrils as his eyes closed, and he succumbed to the exhaustion, to the sorrow, slipping into his own personal void.

His last conscious thought was of the way that her body conformed to his, warm, solid, and the way that, when he laced his fingers through hers, they still fit as perfectly as they did that Christmas night all those years ago.

A/N: SO WHAT DID YOU THINK?! What will Rose be when she awakens and the Doctor opens her mind back up? I apologize if I got some of the quotes wrong, I have awful internet here and so it would have taken me forever to look them up, so please excuse them if they are slightly wrong! As always, review, darlings, let me know what you thought. Inspire me! The jury is still out on whether or not this will be a long, long fic or will have a sequel but, either way, I hope you will read!

Love you all, Xx Lady Ten


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hello lovelies! It is I, Lady Ten, back with another installment of Endlessly. But first, I have a confession to make. I have had all of this written for some time now but have been afraid to post it. Do you know why? BECAUSE THIS IS THE SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER! That's right! After this, THE END. Finitio. If I were the Doctor I would rip the last page out of this story…but I am not, and this story is digital. This is going to be a two-parter, I figured I would just continue with my slight trend of torturous cliffhangers but this one ends on a fluffier hanger than usual. Thank you so much to: RoseKatnissWeasley7, SittingOnTheEdgeOfTheUnivers e, Rubbish Robot, Aliblast, sockmonkeyhatinthetardis, JollyRoger1, gabbygirl89, SmoshyDoctor (your reviews are always so lovely and I fully intend to read your stories once I get a spare moment *hugs*) Pig-Rabbit-Suk, Tardis Holmes, Suuki-Aldrea (YES the Doctor and Rose are made for each other!), Lady of Sign, Phenominal Cat, LostInWho, traversing, Names Have Power/Billy Bo Bob (feeeed meee huuuunnngrrryyy heh I just watched that episode the other day), RainbowGlory97, Tennant is mine (no he is miiine! Okay, we can share), and a few anons for your brilliant reviews. Okay people, you know the drill, can you give me 30 reviews for this lovely little chapter in exchange for an immediate update? Can ya? Huh?! You all have pulled through before so let's go big and make me the happiest girl in the world!**

In all of his lives, the Doctor rarely slept. It was usually only after particularly draining or painful adventures that he simply had to collapse on his bed at the end of the day and, even then, he only rested for an hour or two. His superior biology mixed with his manic obsession to move on to the next planet, the next time, always drove him out of bed, simultaneously spiking his hair and straightening his tie as he sprinted out of the door.

For him, life was never 'too short' but he never knew when this particular one was going to end so he was always determined to make the most of it.

But, in this bed with Rose curled into him, the Doctor slept.

And dreamed.

He dreamt of past lives, of Adric, poor Adric, of Romana, the Master – as he had been, his beautiful Susan, Sarah Jane…

So many lives cut short, changed irreparably, now lost to him forever through his choices or the choices of others. The curse of the Time Lords.

He dreamt of Earth. Of Rose's sleep filled eyes opening and then a grin spreading over her face as she stretched luxuriously in his arms, the two of them nestled in their large bed. Soft morning light streams through the curtained window and he pulls her in for a good morning kiss, gentle and sweet, one of many that they had shared – would share. The door suddenly bursts open and a tiny blonde girl comes careening towards them, leaping and landing between the two of them as they all laugh. Tears filled his dreaming eyes as he realized what this dream was. What could have been, what he could have given Rose if they-

The dream ended and, no matter how hard he reached for it, it slipped away, dissolving into another, darker dream. Images began to flash through his head at a violent pace. Donna - what was she doing there? Little white blobs with faces floating up into the sky, a mountain rising out of the ground that the Doctor recognized as Vesuvius, an icy wind blowing, snow making the landscape a mask of white, an Ood with red eyes, cars emitting a white vapor, a blonde girl - not Rose, but Rose was there, the woman saying, "Hello Dad!", a giant wasp, a world of books - The Library, he had always wanted to go there!, a planet that could only be Shan Shen – Rose would love Shan Shen, brief flickers in between all of these events, these events that he knew to be from the future, the flickers mere possibilities. Then Daleks, so many Daleks and a chamber full of smoke, ooze splattering the glass. All of these things he dreamt and more, the dreams more vivid than any he had ever experienced.

He jerked awake, breathing hard, looking about himself in alarm. Blonde hair met his eyes and the events of the past twenty four, no – twenty-six hours thirty-seven minutes and four seconds came to him in a rush. She was here, she was really here. She was still here. He could have whooped for joy if not for the slight dread he felt. She was still not awake, what would she do when she did? If she did…

If she and the Bad Wolf were merged, what would they be? Would they still want to limit themselves to trips in the TARDIS with an old and broken Time Lord? Why would a Goddess of Time want to do that when she could step out of regular reality, exploring worlds, times, and dimensions he could never touch? The Doctor was unused to the sensation of insecurity. What would he do if she chose not to travel with him? If she wasn't his Rose? She could be more, so much more, but could he handle it if she said goodbye like Martha?

And those dreams…

Those had not been _his_ dreams. He could see past, present, and future events, yes, but not in a dreamscape. That meant-

He looked down at the still form of Rose and swept an errant lock of hair away from her face. Her eyes flickered behind their long, dark lashes, dreaming even still.

Those had been _her_ dreams, her visions. Their mental link had allowed him to share her subconscious world without him even trying. He would have to shield that better, Rose would not like the intrusion.

The memory of the bedroom, of the little girl made his hearts clench in sorrow. They would never have that.

Rose deserved to have that.

Suddenly unsure of himself, he slipped from the bed, careful not to wake Rose. He had to do something, had to busy himself in some way. Food! Any organic body needed food and how long had it been since Rose had received any sort of nourishment? Yes, tea and food, he could do that. Filled with a sense of purpose that he knew was slightly ridiculous, he walked towards the door, taking one last look at Rose, one last look at the empty, sad room.

_I'll fix this, Rose, _he said silently before sliding through the door and closing it gently behind him.

The TARDIS already had water boiling on the stove when the Doctor entered the kitchen. He visited this room so rarely that he still had to open a few cupboards before finding what he was looking for. The TARDIS had always assisted Rose in her searches, but she seemed to think that the Doctor deserved to have to hunt. He extracted a tin of tea that he knew Rose liked - had liked. Would she still? After a cautious search of various cupboards and the ice box all he found to eat was a clump of small bananas.

He liked bananas, bananas were good. Bananas, it seemed, would have to do. He loaded a tea tray with the pathetic assortment of items, tea and bananas, and pushed his way back out of the kitchen.

He was nervous, he realized. What a silly old man he was now.

Would she be awake when he got back? How long should he let her sleep? What should he say to her when she did?

The TARDIS was humming at him but he ignored her, lost in his own thoughts, making up scenario after scenario, dismissing all of his opening lines as ridiculous.

It wasn't until he was around the corner, starting down the hallway to Rose's bedroom that he felt her…and then he saw her. He stopped in his tracks, the tray rattling in his hands. She stood just outside the door, looking around at the TARDIS hallway with lips slightly parted, eyes opened wide. He tried not to notice how the turquoise nightgown fell only to her upper thighs, how that expression of bewilderment upon her face had so often turned into a tongue-touched grin of excitement.

There was no excitement as she turned her head slowly to look at him, her entire body rigid with tension. Her breath audibly caught in her throat as he stood there, both of them frozen for a moment, each unable to believe, even still, that the other was there.

Pulling himself together, the Doctor took a step forward. She was Rose, she was still his Rose, even after all they had been through and he would not shy away from her.

All of a sudden she began to retreat from him. His fears were realized as she backed into the room from whence she came. Maybe she didn't know him. Maybe she was afraid of him.

He nearly gave up then and there, giving in to the heartache that her apparent rejection had given him.

No. No, he would not give up on her. He couldn't run away this time. He had made himself a promise, made a promise to Rose and he would not let her down again.

Not unless she wanted him to.

So he followed her into the dark bedroom, still carrying the tea tray. The light from the hallway vaguely illuminated her still form as he paused in the doorway. She was backed up all the way against the bed, her eyes fixed upon him. Even through the shadows he could see the fear on her face.

"Wake up," he heard her whisper, "wake up!"

He did not know whether to be relieved or more worried. The Doctor stepped forward again and set the tea tray down on a neatly kept desk by the door. Then he approached her. Her eyes were closed and he heard her whisper, "Wake up," again.

She thought that she was dreaming. He didn't blame her - a part of him thought that he just might be living in a dream as well. The Doctor walked forward until he was just inches away from her. He could feel the heat radiating off of her, hear her heart beating rapidly, sense her mind swirling behind the barriers that he had constructed around it.

Rose crossed her arms, hugging herself tightly. Then she reached fingers out and pinched each arm, hard. Instinctively he reached out and slid his hands around her wrists. He felt her tendons tightening as she pinched herself again in an attempt to wake up from what she thought was a dream and he pulled her hands away. Still, she did not open her eyes.

"Rose," he said softly. "Rose, open your eyes." He saw her mouth part slightly with another sharp intake of breath but her eyes remained shut.

"If I do, you will disappear," she whispered. The sound was so small, so pained that he wanted to pull her into his arms right then and there, erasing her doubt. A part of his mind and hearts sang with the knowledge that she did know who he was. Whatever he had done, it had not been a complete failure. There was hope.

"Not this time," he replied, the urge to touch her irresistible as he lifted his hand to cup her cheek. She leaned into his hand, seeming to crave his touch as much as he craved hers, both filled with the unbearable desire for this to be real.

Eyes still closed, Rose inhaled shakily. The Doctor willed her to look at him but he did not want to push his luck. He then saw her mouth three words with pauses in between. _One. Two. Three._

She opened her eyes.

?*?*?*?*?

There before her, gazing down at her face with a myriad of expressions riding upon his features, was the Doctor.

Rose released a strange sound, part gasp and part sob as she stared up at him.

"This…this isn't real," she said, despite all of her senses screaming that it was, it _was_ real.

He gave her a small, sad smile. "If it isn't then I'd rather be here than reality."

She began to believe, slowly at first but then it all came rushing at her, the events of the past few days (…weeks?) flashing before her eyes. A wave of dizziness came over her and she sat down upon the bed, hard, the Doctor's hand still entwined with hers. His face full of concern he squatted down in front of her, immediately pulling out his sonic screwdriver and buzzing her all over with it. Oh, she had missed that sound.

He snapped it open and looked at the readings before replacing it in his pocket.

"Doctor?" she asked quietly, still not daring to let herself believe despite the fact that her whole body was crying out in joy at the sight of him, at the sight of the TARDIS outside of her bedroom door.

A grin broke out across his face - oh she had missed that, too. "It's me, Rose. It's really me."

"I- I don't understand," she replied, stammering as her mind rushed a million bits per second trying to make sense of it all. "I thought…I thought I was back…"

Tender sadness filled his eyes then as he looked up at her from his squatting position. "You're here, Rose. In the TARDIS. With me…" he paused, and then added, "Just as it should be." She tried not to let her heart soar at his words as she studied his face intently.

He looked…older. Not necessarily his face, but his eyes. Those intensely dark brown eyes had always held age and heaviness far beyond his apparent years, the eyes of a Time Lord but now…

During their time in Rome, when they had met Vanessa and Rose had been turned into a statue, she had caught a glimpse of what she had meant to the Doctor. Hiding behind that other statue, waiting for him with the green vial as the future-him had told her to, she had seen what he had never really expressed to her before. He had walked into that shrine, his face full of eagerness then falling in disappointment as he realized that the marble statue that stood before him was not her.

"Rose is prettier than you," he had told the statue and she nearly giggled with glee at the words. But it was the tension, the pain, the worry that he had worn on his face that had told her what she had wanted to know, what she had always secretly wanted to know. She had seen what losing her would do to him.

He had told her briefly of his past companions, of their fates, and some of the others that he had lost along the way. She had wondered at the time, and in many situations after that, if she was special or just another one along for the ride. But hiding behind that statue, watching his slightly past-self search for her, she saw the truth. She _was_ special. Maybe not as special as he was to her…but if it had even been a slightly fraction of her feelings then it would suffice.

Now, with him perched in front of her, she could see that loss permanently etched into his face as, she was sure, it was engraved onto hers.

"Doctor…" she whispered, her voice barely audible. He was here. She was here. Really, truly here.

He smiled a small smile, one that she would have thought timid if she hadn't known him as well as she did.

"Hello," he said.

"Hello," she responded, instinctively falling back into their little banter of so many years ago, an uncontrolled smile breaking across her features.

Rose looked about her as the TARDIS hummed happily away, bringing up the lights in the small, plain room. She examined the space, unsure, confused.

"But this is my room, my room from Torchwood," she said seeing the grainy photo on the bedside table and blushing slightly as the Doctor's attention was drawn to it.

"The TARDIS wanted you to feel comfortable, I think," the Doctor said, his mouth quirking unhappily.

"Doctor…I don't understand," Rose said, suddenly realizing that she had no recollection of how she arrived in the place she was sitting. The last thing she remembered was…

"_I love you…"_

She fixed her eyes upon the Doctor again. He stood up and paused before sitting down next to her on the purple duvet. He did not release her hands.

"Rose, there are many things…so many things that I have to tell you. That I have to show you." The hesitation in his voice made Rose narrow her eyes in curiosity but before she could reply he continued, "But first I want you to come to the MedBay with me."

Bewildered, Rose nodded and allowed him to help her to her feet. Her natural instincts to question and distrust a situation such as this were quelled by the sheer fact that she trusted this man in front of her with more than her life. She couldn't keep her eyes off of him, didn't want to let go of his hand. That hand which had held hers through thick and thin, the hand that had always been there when she had reached for it. The hand that she had continued to reach for in Pete's World and broke her heart every time it wasn't there.

They exited the room and finally she was forced to drag her eyes away from him as she absorbed the sights and sounds of the TARDIS, the only place that had ever, truly felt like home. They walked slowly down the hallways, the Doctor navigating with ease the maze of doors and corridors. It had changed, she realized, it wasn't the same as it had been before. There was a time when she could go running down any hallway and end up exactly where she wanted to be, whether it be the swimming pool library, the wardrobe, kitchen, anywhere. How long had she been away? How long had it been for him?

Silently, hand in hand, they finally reached the entrance to the Med Bay and the Doctor pushed the door open. The clean, clinical smell brought a cold sweat to her skin immediately and a wave of nausea hit her. She froze and her eyes darted wildly about her. That smell. It was exactly what she had smelled every time she had awoken with the Master, before the Void took her. The smell that meant pain, confusion, desperation. Suddenly a blinding agony shot through her head and she curled in on herself, her knees buckling slightly. Her vision was a white-out, even when she squeezed her eyes shut and a horrible, deafening noise was screaming in her ears.

"Rose?" the Doctor asked, turning on his heel to face her when their entwined hands pulled taught. "Rose, what is it?" The pain began to fade, the noise vanished and her sight returned. She had fallen to her knees with her head drawn down. She opened her eyes and could see his bent knees, feel them touching her bare ones. The sonic was buzzing again but his hand was still firmly wrapped around hers. The sensation was gone entirely now, as if it had never been there at all but her heart was still hammering in her chest. Rose looked up, fighting down the panic that was still sweeping through her.

She made herself look at him and only him. He was safety. She was okay; as long as he was holding her hand she was okay. With a deep breath and a small smile that did nothing to conceal the terror in her eyes, she shook her head and allowed him to raise her to her feet. She was unsteady and leaned on him heavily. Slowly he led her towards the table that stood in the middle of the room.

Without asking permission, without hesitating he placed his hands upon her waist and hoisted her up onto the surface with ease. She could feel the warmth of his hands through the thin material of her nightgown and relished it but when she looked up at him she was fixed by his expression. She knew that look on his face. He was worried. No, beyond worried. _Scared._ She had only ever caught that expression when he thought that she wasn't looking. When he knew that she was, he had put on his brave face, reassuring her, but during all of their time together she had learned to see past that mask.

Now, that scared expression melted away before her eyes, replaced by that familiar mask that meant his entirely logical side was taking over, shoving his emotions out of the way. Even after all this time she knew.

Lips pressed together in thin line, he pulled out his brainy specs, _she had missed those too_, scanned her with a number of devices, reading the undecipherable swirls and circles that came upon the screen. But, to her utter surprise, she found that they had begun to make sense.

Before, she had come to accept that Gallifreyan was the only language that the TARDIS would not translate for her. It wasn't for lack of trying that Rose failed to read it either. She had only attempted it when she had been alone, not wanting the Doctor to see her pathetic efforts at reading his language, but, try as she might, they remained what they were. A beautiful, impossible set of pictures and nothing more. However, now, now they came together in a way that, if she focused enough, a pattern began to emerge. She was far too distracted to concentrate hard enough now, but she fully intended to explore this newfound understanding once all of the other mysteries in her life had been sorted.

It seemed neither of them knew what to say so they said nothing at all, the humming of the TARDIS and the occasional beeping of one machine or another were the only sounds in the room. Rose was quite content to just look at him, to drink him in, despite her fear of another attack of pain. A large part of her still didn't believe that this could be happening, that her memories weren't lying to her.

"How do you feel?" he asked, breaking the silence as he turned abruptly away from a screen.

She really didn't know how to answer that, she had been too distracted by his presence to even take a moment to think about herself.

"Okay I guess," she answered lamely, not knowing what else to say. A million questions darted through her mind but she kept them to herself. She just wanted to erase those lines of pain and worry that had etched themselves into his handsome face. So she said the one thing that just might distract him, however temporarily, "I'd be better after a cuppa." She was rewarded with a smile and a small laugh.

"I think that can be arranged."

?*?*?*?

Rose watched from a chair at the table as the Doctor did what he swore he would never do.

Domestic.

He hurled himself around the kitchen, boiling water, setting out mugs. She smiled broadly to herself when he even selected her favorite tea from the endless selection that the TARDIS provided. Rose remembered that, before…everything, she had been on a personal quest to try each and every one. They came from an innumerable number of planets and times, adding up to become quite a collection.

When she had discovered this particular one, from the twenty-seventh century of the planet Zinnadoreen she had raved about it and had made the Doctor drink it with her every time they had a quiet moment, usually whilst he tinkered on the TARDIS. So many hours they had passed, usually with just his trainers peeking out from underneath the TARDIS console, her situated in the jump seat reading or sketching. At peace. At home. Together.

Now, in the present, the Doctor placed the mug of steaming liquid in front of her and took a seat with one of his own. The cream and sugar were already upon the table and she was again surprised when he put two sugar cubes and just a tiny splash of cream into her cup. She hadn't known that he had ever noticed how she took her tea.

He was treating her as if she were fragile, that, at any moment, she might float away. She wished he would stop it, but for now, it was nice.

He froze while stirring her tea, his eyes darting up to meet hers, "Sorry- I- do you still-?"

"Yeah," she replied, smiling, and he slid the mug over towards her. She reached for it before he had taken his hand away and their fingers brushed, sending a jolt of nervous energy up her arm and straight into her stomach. Why was she so shy of him? And since when was he shy of her?

She was still clothed only in the nightgown that she had awoken in, the TARDIS keeping the room at the optimal temperature for her. Rose had been far too distracted and amused to feel self-conscious up until this moment, but now she had to consciously prevent her arms from circling around herself in a pathetic attempt at modesty.

They were silent for a long moment, the steam from the mugs rising into the air. Suddenly the Doctor spoke up, his words coming out all in a rush.

"Rose, what do you remember?"

She thought about it for a moment, flashes of faces and events going through her mind. "I remember the Master," she said finally, unable to conceal a shiver that ran across her skin. Wordlessly, the Doctor removed his brown pinstriped jacket and leaned forward to drape it around her shoulders. She accepted the offer, briefly closing her eyes as she relished the warmth of the material, his scent all around her. "Thank you," she said quietly and pulled the jacket tighter around her, more for comfort than out of any chill.

She took a sip of her tea, stifling a tiny moan of pleasure at the flavor of the hot liquid. Gorgeous.

The small sip was what she needed to continue. "Doctor…what the Master did to me…" she trailed off, willing the Doctor to jump in. He didn't disappoint.

"The Bad Wolf," he said simply, his voice tense, direct.

"Yeah…her. Was I- did I-where did that go?" She studied the Doctor carefully as he studied her back. Whatever he was looking for, he seemed to find because he began to speak, slowly but steadily.

"Rose, the Master brought the Bad Wolf out in you. I am so, so sorry. I thought that I removed all traces of…_that_ on Satellite 5, right before I regenerated." Rose nodded, the memory of his regeneration clear in her mind even now. "I don't know how he did it, but you were stronger. You didn't allow him to use you for his purposes but…" he trailed off and she saw the pain lance across his face. "But Rose…you _died_."

Rose remembered bits and pieces. The battle, people dying, the Doctor kissing her. _He had kissed her! _The Master yelling, the Toclafane. She had known what she had to do; it had been so clear in her mind. She had been terrified, heartbroken, but she would do it every single time if given the choice. To sacrifice herself to end the suffering of an entire planet, even to merely save the Doctor…there was no choice. It would be a good way to go. She would never choose otherwise. Pain once again shot through her head but it was less this time and she was able to cover up her tiny wince by pretending to sweep her hair back from her face. She didn't want to worry him, she just wanted to enjoy being with him right now.

"Why am I here, Doctor? Am I like Jack now?" she asked suddenly and the fear that came over his expression made every nerve within her stand on end. Why was he afraid?

"You…you came back," he said softly, watching the steam from his mug rather than look at her. "I brought you back."

She watched him, trying to remember what he was telling her but coming up blank. It wasn't that the memory was not there…it was like-

She knew what it was like.

"Doctor, what did you do?" At her tone he looked up at her. She knew the feeling because it was exactly what the Master had done to her. Erased and suppressed memories. She _hated_ when people messed with her head. It was a violation. She then noted the expression that the Doctor wore and understood. If he had done that to her, after seeing what the Master had done, after knowing her so well for so long, then he must have a _very _good reason.

"When you came back you collapsed. I didn't know what to do, I was panicked. I ran scans, tests, but could find no reason why you wouldn't wake up…so I went into your mind and found you." Rose blinked, trying to comprehend what she was hearing.

At her silence the Doctor continued, "I searched and searched, and, finally, I found you. But it wasn't you. It was _her."_

This time it was Rose's turn to supply the name, "The Bad Wolf."

He nodded, "She told me – she told me I shouldn't have brought you back. That your mind could not support the two of you. But she also told me that I had a choice. That I was the only one who could make it. So I made the choice, Rose. I am sorry, I am so sorry." He looked at her pleadingly but there was a hint of defiance in his gaze as he said, "I made the only choice that I could. I chose to save you."

With alarm, Rose noted the sheen over his eyes. Tears.

"When it was over, I blocked out everything that had happened. You could have burned up before me. _That_ is why you woke up in your bedroom from Torchwood. _That_ is why you can't remember. If you did burn…Rose, if we went through all of this hell and I lost you…I don't know-" he stopped then, tears fully forming in his eyes as he tried to justify all of it to her. But he didn't have to. She quickly reached out both of her hands, taking both of his in a tight grip.

"It's okay, Doctor," she said simply. A slight hint of disbelief clouded his features.

"Don't say that until you know it all, Rose."

_All of what?_ She asked silently, concealing the alarm that swept through her.

"What I had to do to save you…I didn't remove the Bad Wolf from you…I made her a permanent part of you."

Rose considered this, her mind eerily calm at the news. Calm, because a part of her was rejoicing. How many times after Satellite 5 had she longed to control that power again to save him or others? For so long she had been utterly ordinary, powerless. But for that one shining, glorious moment, she had felt what it was like to be somebody. This was a good thing, wasn't it?

Then why did he look so worried?

"What does that mean, exactly?" Rose asked, carefully.

The Doctor sighed, the inhale shaking audibly through his throat. "I won't know until I bring down the mental barriers that I erected inside of you. The Bad Wolf told me it was unprecedented. There is a very real possibility that I failed, that it will destroy you. But…but there's also the chance, the very real chance that…oh Rose, that you could live far beyond a normal human life. Potentially as long as, well, a Time Lord…"

The words hit her straight in the heart and she stared at him with mouth slightly agape. "So…so I could die…or live as long as…you?" she asked, not daring to believe what he was telling her.

"Yes."

Inside she was singing with the joy of it. She could live up to her promise of giving him forever! He would no longer have to be alone. It could be Rose Tyler and the Doctor in the TARDIS.

Forever.

Her inner happiness was suddenly extinguished when she looked back at him. He was staring at her with such devastation on his face, such sorrow. It was then that she knew. _She_ may be happy about it all but him…

_He _didn't want her for forever. After all of this misery, agony, after all the work she put in to get back to him. It was all for nothing. Her job was done, she saved the world. He had only brought her back because he felt guilty, because that was what he did. He had never intended to bring her back forever, like she had brought Jack back.

Pain seized her heart and she stood up quickly, the chair rocking back and nearly falling behind her. The Doctor's eyes widened and he stood up moments after her, alarm written all over his face.

"Right, well then.." Rose said lamely, looking about herself in a daze. The Doctor said nothing, just stared at her.

When Rose began running from the room, her bare feet slapping along the corridors, still he stood there.

**A/N: Eeep! What will the Doctor do? Will Rose see the light or is all hope lost!? And where is Jack, and what will everyone do next? 30 reviews gets you the next chapter (I know I am spoiled, you have made me that way). Let's give my little fic a send-off for the ages. The title of the sequel lies in the next chapter as well. I don't think I have said it before but 'Endlessly' comes from one of my very favorite Muse songs. You go listen now. It's beautiful. Until next time my dears, I adore you all.**

**Xx Lady Ten**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: This is it! The final chapter! The happy ending! This has been a wonderful journey and I very much look forward to writing the next chapters of the Doctor and Rose's new, eternal life together. Stay tuned to the A/N at the end of the story for the title of the sequel. Thank you so much to: Pig-Rabbit-Suk (hope this makes up for the depressing chapter!), JollyRoger1, sockmonkeyhatinthetaris, FloraFaveXNara-Wire, Kosetsuno Tenshi, AvenJackel, TooLazyToLogin, NoPondInTheForest, Acoustic Dancer, Laurens1988, gabbygirl89, SittingOnTheEdgeOfTheUnivers e, LadaHathaway, OnceadiaryintheTARDIS, Amelia St. Claire, District 9and3-4, lilbitjrfan8, proudwombat, hungrywhovianpotterhead, TheRealHoldim, rozablood (you, lady, are amazing thank you so much for your reviews and yes there is a sequel in the works) a few anons, and my dearest darling Caskett54 for your reviews. You guys are my favorite people in the world!**

The TARDIS illuminated the correct path for Rose to take and soon she was pushing her way back through the door with her name engraved upon it. She froze upon entering. The room was not the one she had left a few hours ago. It was the one she had left a few years ago.

It was brightly lit with two windows set into the walls, one looking out over a posh part of London, the other a field of sunflowers perpetually bursting into life. Pictures lined the walls, pictures that Rose had longed for on the lonely nights when she only had the one from her cellphone to keep her company. All of her souvenirs from various planets and small gifts from those she had helped or met along the way occupied the shelves and the desk. The room was dominated by a queen-sized bed, the most comfortable thing she had ever laid upon, covered in a luxurious deep purple comforter. The carpet was warm and soft beneath her feet and reminded her of the week she had chosen to have dense moss as the flooring. It had taken her forever to get the stains out of her favorite pair of jeans when she had carelessly dropped them upon the organic floor.

The door closed silently behind her and Rose had the feeling that the TARDIS had locked it, giving her time to mourn.

To mourn the loss of something that she had, for one brief, shining moment, thought she had finally, _finally_ gotten.

Her forever with the Doctor.

She didn't blame him for not wanting that though, not really. Who was she to come into his life and demand a place that only a…well, a _wife, _would take. It had been all well and good to say that she would stay with him forever because, back then, her forever was a mere blink of the eye to the Doctor. Now, facing the very real prospect that she would be there, his responsibility until the end of his days, he had buckled and shown his true colors.

Rose wanted to cry but no tears came. Instead, she hugged herself, pulling his jacket in even closer around her and sat lightly upon the bed. She laid back and, despite herself, smiled at what she saw. Right before she had left, the TARDIS had changed her ceiling to a swirling pattern of the sky from one of the planets they had visited. A spectrum of gold, pink, purple, green, blue, and other colors she didn't have a name for, danced across her ceiling. Rose winced as an ache at the back of her head began and the noise from earlier was a dull roar in her ears but neither could compare with the pain in her heart. This was all too much, too sudden. Leaving Pete's World, the Toclafane, tortured by the Master, losing her memories, seeing Jack again, kissing the Doctor…

Sacrificing herself…

Rose dragged her hands down her face.

Maybe the Bad Wolf had been right in what she had told the Doctor.

Maybe he should not have brought her back.

She took a deep, shaking breath, and sunk her hands into the impossibly deep pockets of the Doctor's jacket, thinking heavily of what she would do now.

She couldn't stay here with him, not when it had been quite obvious that he did not want her roaming the halls of his TARDIS for all of time. Maybe he would let her stay a little while, that is, if she survived the breaking down of the mental barriers he had erected. The thought of the Bad Wolf being a permanent resident of her mind scared Rose. She would have power that she had never dreamed of. How would she control it? The responsibility that, that entailed was beyond daunting.

Her fingers brushed against random objects. She felt the distinct flesh of a Satsuma and the memory of that second Christmas flitted through her mind. There were various scraps of paper, feathers, bits of cloth, a squishy thing that she recoiled from immediately, a thick piece of paper with one glossy-feeling side that could only be a photograph. Idly curious in her heartbroken, dazed state she pulled out the picture.

She turned it over and her eyes widened. It was a picture of her, just her. There weren't many of those around because she was the one always behind the lens, but here one was. In his pocket. The edges were tattered as if it had been handled often and Rose couldn't recall when this picture was taken. She was looking at whoever was taking the picture, not at the camera but beyond it, with a huge smile on her face. Her hair was being blown off to one side and her cheeks were flushed with excitement. There was a large gash in the fabric of the jumper she was wearing and her jeans were filthy.

But she was happy. So, so happy.

Rose sat back up, delved back into the pocket and discovered the inner pocket from whence this one had come. There were a dozen pictures at least, some of them copies of the ones that donned her walls, but mostly ones of just her. When had these been taken? The pocket also contained an odd assortment of trinkets that Rose most certainly did remember. There was a purple bracelet that she had woven out of the grass from a planet and given to the Doctor on a rare occasion when they had been able to relax for five minutes. She had made him wear it all day and he hadn't complained once. There was the red and pink set of tissue Christmas cracker hats that they had worn on their first Christmas together, now crinkled and slightly torn, but there nonetheless. A silly drawing that she had done of him, of his Northern self, all cross with a speech bubble saying "Don't wander off!" Piece after piece she pulled out and examined, reliving the memories of each one. At the very bottom of the pile was a purple blouse. _Her_ purple blouse. This one was a slight mystery to her but it brought a wide grin to her face. He had kept an entire article of her clothing in his pocket all this time.

He had kept them, he had kept them all. She had a similar little box hiding under this bed, full of seemingly ordinary things that she had treasured. She never in a million years would have thought that he was doing the same.

Realization began to dawn on her. Maybe he hadn't been unhappy about her staying with him after all. She thought back over their conversation, back even to the _Valiant, _back to…before.

A vague, hazy golden memory flitted through her head. A Bad Wolf memory.

"_No! I cannot lose you again! I won't survive it!"_

Another memory that she most certainly was there for, _"Rose Tyler, I love you."_

"_I don't age. I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone you..."_

"_What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?"_

He had been telling her all along. Before the Doctor she had thought of herself as one step above nothing. Her self-esteem was mediocre at best and she was prone to deep insecurity. Most of that had changed when the Doctor stepped into her life. He showed her what it meant to be brilliant and, over the course of their too-brief time together, she began to see what he saw in her. Just a little.

Still though, that deeply rooted issue with confidence was a hard one to kick and, when he had sat there staring at her with sad eyes she had immediately jumped to conclusions. God, she could be so stupid sometimes!

Making up her mind, Rose jammed the trinkets back into the pocket, taking care to make it so he might not even notice that she had seen them. Knowing they were there was enough. She would not give him a choice in this matter. They had been through too much, had known each other too long for her to be running away from him or vice versa.

No, it _was_ time to run.

But this time they would run to each other.

?*?*?*?*?

The Doctor stood where he was and watched Rose turn and run from him. Pain washed through him as he scrubbed both hands down his stubbly cheeks. What had he done?

Rose had never run from him. Not once in all of the time that they had been together, even when she should have, even when he told her to.

A small part of him thought that she would share in his joy. He remembered clearly when she had first promised him 'forever'. The single world had conflicted him for longer than it should have. Losing Rose to the relentless draw of time was not something that he had been sure that he could do. But he would do it. He had to do it.

Because…

Because he _loved_ her.

But now – now they actually stood a real chance of being able to be together forever and she had run. It was his fault - of course it was his fault. All of it was too much and he had been absolute rubbish at explaining any of it. Why hadn't he said anything? Why hadn't he stopped her?

"Idiot," he muttered to himself, staring down at their cooling, partially full mugs of tea.

Should he go after her? At the thought, the TARDIS dimmed the lights on and off slightly. He didn't know if it was agreement or a warning.

The Doctor must have stood in that one spot for five whole minutes just thinking. Give him an impossible countdown to the destruction of a planet and he would have it solved in no time. This… this was a whole new mystery to him.

Knowing Rose was on board the TARDIS and not having her in his sight was physical agony for him. What the hell was he doing, standing here? He was over nine hundred years old and was acting like a coward. He had to explain to her, had to tell her.

He went to reach into his jacket pocket to finger the soft material of the purple blouse he kept in there, _her _purple blouse but then realized that she was wearing his coat still. Gathering himself together, the Doctor prepared for rejection, prepared for her to run from him even farther. She just had to know. His silence was only because he was terrified of her reaction to what he had done to her. If it worked…if she was almost immortal like the Bad Wolf had said she might be…

It had to work.

The Doctor strode out of the kitchen with purpose, tracing Rose's frantic steps from moments before.

Too soon, he found himself outside of her door. He could hear only silence from behind it. He went to knock then stopped. Went to turn the knob but it wouldn't budge. With a small glare he looked up around him at the TARDIS, knowing full well that the locking was the ship's doing.

The Doctor stood there pathetically, unsure of what to do, entirely unsure of himself. He lightly traced the swooping circles of Rose's name in the language of his people, another add-in from the TARDIS. No other companion had ever gotten such a personalized treatment.

Scolding himself once again, the Doctor took one more deep breath and raised his hand to knock when suddenly the door flew open and Rose nearly crashed into him.

She stopped short, eyes wide.

The Doctor lowered his arm and stared back at her, slightly speechless.

"Doctor, I-" Rose began just as he said,

"Rose, please-"

They both were quiet a moment, each willing the other to speak first.

"You go ahead…" he said. She looked down at her feet and then back into her bedroom.

"D'you…d'you want to sit down?" she asked hesitantly, quirking her head to the side in a rare show of shyness.

The Doctor rubbed his neck and then nodded. Rose stepped aside and the Doctor entered her room.

It had changed back. He hadn't noticed at first but it was, most definitely, her room from before. Back were the pictures, back were the clothes, the trinkets. Did this mean she was back as well?

Rose settled herself on the bed first, tucking her feet underneath her and drawing a cream colored crocheted blanket over her bare legs. The Doctor paused, then followed suit, awkwardly folding himself into a comfortable position.

Neither seemed to know what to say but Rose broke the silence.

"'M sorry I ran away like that," she mumbled, looking up at him from beneath her lashes, "It's just that…I thought that, because I'm, well, because I might be different, that you wouldn't want me around anymore."

The Doctor's hearts broke a little more at this. He was so daft sometimes, so insensitive, and he couldn't bear the idea that he had made Rose feel unwanted for even a second. Because nothing could be farther from the truth. He remembered a similar conversation, standing outside of the Powell Estates with the ashes of a spaceship raining down on them, both of them so shy of the other.

He was about to speak but she interrupted him, "No, please let me finish." He held his tongue and she continued. "The whole time I was in Pete's World, the _entire_ time, I was trying to get back here. Back to you. Shut up," she chided jokingly when the Doctor began to smile despite himself. His smile only widened when she blushed and her tongue poked out between her teeth. "I can't tell you how many times that I nearly died there, and not just because I am jeopardy friendly. The world was _wrong_, so wrong for me. You might even say it was _trying_ to get rid of me…that's how it felt anyway."

The Doctor's brows furrowed and he remembered the past-Rose telling Mickey, "You know how it is."

"I was able to do things, Doctor, things that I wasn't able to do before. After Satellite 5, well, I knew that something was different about me. But then you became…you, and everything else happened so fast. I guess I just didn't want to worry you." She huffed a little laugh, "Now, I'm starting to sound like you, rambling on. The point is, I never want you to blame yourself for anything. I said it before and I'll say it again. I made my choice a long time ago. _My_ choice. So everything with the Master, with the Bad Wolf, with whatever is gonna happen when you take down these barriers…it's not your place to blame yourself. I only ever wanted to make you happy, as happy as you made me, and I couldn't bear it if it were otherwise." Rose trailed off and finally looked up at him expectantly.

The Doctor had absorbed all of this in silence and, to his surprise, a slight weight lifted off of his shoulders. He made her happy.

One life, in all that he had known that maybe, just maybe, he didn't ruin.

"Rose…the life I lead…it is long. So long. I never want you to end up like me, old and broken, still so filled with anger. Alone. You made me better. You saved me from myself. And…" he trailed off, unsure if he could say what he wanted to say. He took her hand in his and relished the sensation as she laced her fingers through his, squeezing slightly and giving him the strength to go on. His eyes flicked up to meet hers, deep brown against a spectrum of hazel.

"…And I am going to be selfish this time, if you will let me. Because I love you too damn much to give you up again."

There was a pause, the only noise was the thumping of the Doctor's hearts, then all of a sudden he was on his back with her on top of him, her warm body pressed up against the length of his. She seemed surprised by her own actions and looked down at him with widened eyes and parted lips, her blonde hair falling in a curtain all around them, shielding them from the outside world. She bit her lip and, without thinking, for once in his life, doing what he _wanted_, the Doctor wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and brought her mouth down to his.

This was technically their sixth kiss but it felt like the first time all over again. Heat erupted through his body and he was acutely aware of every point of contact between them. Her bare legs straddling his, her warm mouth returning every movement. Every one of his senses was filled with her, intoxicating, addicting. Craving more of her, he pushed his jacket off of her shoulders and it fell in a pile behind her. He ran his hands up her arms, savoring the smooth skin, exploring her back and hips and legs and hair, all of her as their tongues fought for dominance. A shiver ran through him as her mind, still so strong, brushed against his, deepening their connection and he pressed her nearer, wanting her closer, to never let her go.

Suddenly she jerked away, eyes squeezed shut and fear lanced through him. "Rose?" he asked, panic seizing his hearts. She shook her head slightly and opened her eyes, staring down at him. The Bad Wolf was hammering at the door. The barriers were coming down and there wasn't much time. She didn't need to explain what had happened; he hadn't been blind to the attacks of pain she was experiencing. The Doctor looked up at her, searching her face. Her mouth was swollen and her cheeks and chest were flushed, her eyes tight with worry. Rose ran a hand through her blonde locks, pulling it away from her face as she looked at him with a mix of surprise and lingering lust and a tinge of sadness.

She bit her lip again and spoke softly, "Take the barriers down, Doctor." He studied her hazel eyes carefully and saw his own fear, love, and passion reflected in them.

"Are you sure, Rose? Are you absolutely sure you want this?" he asked. It was only a matter of time before her mind ripped the barriers down on its own but the force of that would surely kill her. They had a countdown, a countdown to her destruction. He could continue to patch her up but that would only last so long. Doing it now would give her the best possible chance. But he still wanted to give her the choice.

She leaned down again and brushed her lips against his chastely, speaking one word against them.

"Yes."

His hearts thudding in his chest and a manic mix of terror, excitement, and hope coursing through his veins, the Doctor sat up, bringing her with him and she settled back on her knees. She was almost sitting in his lap, their faces mere centimeters apart.

Wordlessly, he brought his hands up and spread his fingers around her skull, placing his thumbs below her eyes, pointer fingers on her temples and the rest spread out around her head, tangling in her hair. She was still breathing fast but not from passion. He could feel her fear and it only increased his own but they had come too far to turn back now. Could not turn back now.

He looked into her eyes, trying to convey everything he felt for her in that one look, as she was doing to him right now, then closed his eyes and leaned forward so that their foreheads were touching.

"If it's the last time I get to say it…"

"Don't, Doctor, it's okay, I know," she whispered, cutting him off with a finger to his lips.

He studied her face, memorizing everything, every feeling. Her face, her eyes, her finger against his lips… It would not be his last chance to say it. He would spend every day of the rest of their lives showing her, telling her. This would work. He closed his eyes and reached out for her through their connection.

Entering her mind was easier than ever, now that he had been inside of it recently and she was a willing participant. He felt her draw aside her own protective walls to let him in further.

It didn't take him long to find the barriers he had set up, blocking the results of his potentially lethal experiment. Shimmering gold swirled out from the cracks that were already forming in the barrier, her mind so strong that it was beginning to tear them down itself.

Before he could change his mind, before he could retreat like the coward that he was, the Doctor unleashed Rose. Unleashed the Bad Wolf.

He was violently ejected from their connection his mind momentarily wiped clean, a blinding light and a roaring coursing through his ears. He came to with a gasp. His hands still cupped her face but her head was thrown back and gold was streaming from her closed eyes, mouth, hands, radiating off of her skin.

No.

The power was increasing and he had been through this enough to know what was happening.

She was regenerating, or something close to it. At this proximity, he could very well be burned up with her but he was not about to move away. He would be there for her no matter what, even if it killed him, too.

But she couldn't. She couldn't regenerate, not now. Once again, not allowing himself to think, he did the only thing that he could do. He merged his own regeneration energy with hers, forcing the process back into her. He felt his mind explode, mix with hers, felt their auras and energies and every other conceivable part of them join and fight and join again. He was aware of nothing yet everything. It was pain and pleasure, fire and ice, his only conscious thought was that he would either save Rose Tyler or die trying.

It was over as soon as it had begun yet it had seemed an eternity. The Doctor forced his eyes open and they were met by the swirling of her ceiling. His limbs felt heavy, all of his energy gone. He had survived…but Rose?

With panic he sat up fast, too fast and winced at the pain and dizziness. What had he done?

His eyes immediately found Rose and his hearts leapt at what he saw.

She was lying on her back, hair fanned our around her, her eyes just beginning to flutter open. She gasped and sat up quickly, eyes wide. When those eyes found him he saw that they were gold. They still held all of the warmth and depth of Rose's hazel but now the greens and ambers were laced with a spectrum of golden hues.

But, other than that, she was _her._ Yellow hair, smooth skin, the hint of a hesitant smile on her full mouth.

"Doctor?" she asked quietly. He scooted forward and reached a hand out to cup her cheek, unable to take his eyes off of her. He said nothing, just studied her, running his other hand down her arm, through her hair. Rose.

She was perfect. She was Rose.

With whoop of joy he threw his arms around her and felt her arms embrace him back.

"Rose, oh Rose, you magnificent creature," he murmured into her hair and felt tears once again prick at his eyes, this time from sheer joy. When he pulled away to look at her again, to make sure what he was seeing was real, he saw tears shimmering in her eyes as well, falling down her cheeks as a grin broke out over her face.

"I'm okay? I'm still…me?" she asked in wonder.

"You're still you. My Rose Tyler," he said, his joy catching the words in his throat. And she was her. His pink and yellow girl. That face that he loved so dearly, that smile, those eyes…he laced his fingers through hers. Perfect fit.

"I feel…different," she said, looking around but not really seeing, taking stock of what was going on inside of her. Her mind sang as a chorus inside of his head and he could feel the Rose/Bad Wolf settle into a corner of his mind where he knew he would keep them, always. Every atom of him was aware of her. He didn't know what he had done but regeneration energy was still whisping out from his own body as well as hers. In his panic he had leapt fully into her mind, into her body and soul, protecting her, healing her.

Later, he would think about it later. For now he was more than satisfied…there were no words for how he felt. He reached out with his mind and brushed hers tentatively. She looked at him suddenly in surprise. "Is that…you?" He nodded and she reciprocated the gesture, their mental signatures lacing together, getting to know one another.

He laughed, "You're so _loud!" _he exclaimed, and she was. Time Lords were taught from the earliest age to quell their emotions, to keep them under lock and key but here was this impossible, formerly human woman with her mind yelling out to all of the worlds, declaring her presence.

"Sorry!" she apologized and he felt her retreat slightly, but she couldn't hold it.

He laughed again, "We will work on it all, Rose. Oh the things that I will show you!" She pulled him in for another hug and they sat like that for a long moment, rocking back and forth.

Unable to sit still, Rose broke away and leapt to her feet, jumping off of the bed and landing on the floor with a _thud. _The TARDIS was humming happily away, and Rose froze again looking around the room.

"Is that the TARDIS?" she exclaimed running over the door and pushing it open. With a face-splitting grin still firmly planted upon his face, the Doctor followed her out into the hall. "Doctor, I can _hear_ the TARDIS, too!"

"The Old Girl always did like you best," he said and knew it was true. His hearts soared when he looked closer at Rose and saw her timeline. It was like nothing that he had ever seen before, streaming out from her in a thousand directions, weaving and changing and oh so long, extending backwards and forwards and sideways in patterns that he was quite positive were unique to her. His Bad Wolf. His Rose Tyler.

"Jack!" she exclaimed, "We have to go see Jack!" She began to dart down the hallway and, with amused alarm; the Doctor followed her once again. It seemed she had gained more from him than his regeneration energy. The way she was scampering about…she was well, _him._

"We are _not_ going to go see Jack with you in only that nightie," the Doctor said once they reached the console room. Rose stopped and looked down at herself before bursting into laughter, the sound ringing off of the TARDIS and joining with his.

She began to dash out of the room again, this time headed for the wardrobe when she stopped and came running back, throwing her arms around his neck as he laughed and spun her around. When they landed she looked up at him, her eyes shining with happiness.

"How long are you going to stay with me?" she asked suddenly, beaming up at him.

In answer he pulled her closer and leaned their foreheads together. She could feel the heat coming off of him, his breath upon her slightly parted lips and for a moment she thought that he was going to evade the answer. But then the feather light brush of his mind tickled hers and she immediately opened herself up to him. She closed her eyes and saw what he was showing her.

Running, hands laced, hearts pounding.

A red headed woman, _Donna_ the Doctor supplied.

A blinding white snowscape and an Ood.

Watching him tinker on the TARDIS, _helping_ him tinker on the TARDIS.

Laughing and dancing with him.

Startling fear as Daleks swarmed the air.

Image after image flashed through her mind, either supplied by the Doctor or coming from her own head, she couldn't tell which, continuing on and on, decades, centuries, an immeasurable amount of time but with one constant. They were together.

_Adventures, living, loving, laughing, running, kissing, fear, joy, pain, pleasure._

For once, it did not need saying. Through their connection he let his feeling flow without abandon and her heart felt like it might break with happiness.

Come what may, it would always be them, the Doctor and Rose Tyler.

In the TARDIS. As it should be.

Forever.

**A/N: Oh my goodness. It is finished. Holy crap I am sad! But it is okay because there will be a sequel entitled 'Butterflies and Hurricanes'. Thank you so much to all of you who have been there from the beginning and those of you who came along the way. Without you all this story would have been dead in the water but you guys kept me going with your lovely reviews and support. I hope with all of my heart that you will read the sequel and keep on making me the happiest Whovian in the world. Keep in touch darlings and I will see you soon. **

**Xx all the love I have, Lady Ten.**


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